Balanced Ethics Review

As an Institutional Review Board (IRB) member, you must balance two interests. Your committee protects subjects and it permits the research that improves our health and lives. Balanced Ethics Review, drawing on basic principles of ethics and regulation, explains how to conduct this balancing task. It does not always provide the answer to knotty questions—that is your job—but it suggests a way of thinking, one that will help you reach morally-justified decisions that respect both subject welfare and our shared need for the fruits of research.