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Reflection on the Rights of Human Research Participants Protection.

           The involvement of human beings in research as subjects or participants is a critical subject in health-related studies. Participants or subjects are individuals who volunteer to take part in a research. Typically, they are provided with consent forms to sign as a confirmation of agreement of their willingness to partake as subjects without coercion. Consequently, it is imperative to protect the rights of any individual who chooses to participate in research. This paper, therefore, reflects on the protection of the rights of human research subjects. Consequently, it describes the circumstances that influenced the need for a policy to protect human research subjects. Additionally, it identifies a vulnerable population and special restrictions that are associated with human research, and prioritizes the ethical principles in the order of their importance. 

Circumstances that Influenced the Need for a policy to Protect Human Research Subjects

           The need for the policy to protect human research participants was influenced by several circumstances. Generally, the need was initiated as a result of egregious research abuses (Breault, 2006). More specifically, the need was to thwart the overexploitation by the researchers on vulnerable individuals like patients. Patients frequently enrolled as research participants have various reasons including the hope of improving their medical conditions (Breault, 2006). Additionally, the need was to protect human research participants from being hurt in the process of their participation (Breault, 2006). An example is the cause of pain, suffering, and even death. Therefore, the need to prevent and hinder subject abuses during research, avoidance of subject overexploitation, and minimize of eliminated injuries during the research are some of the circumstances the influenced the need for a policy to protect human research subjects. 

Vulnerable Populations and Specific Restrictions Associated with Human Research.

           A vulnerable population is a group of people who are susceptible to unethical research participation, hence requires protection. A vulnerable population is a disadvantaged section of a community that requires uttermost attention including protection under research. Additionally, a vulnerable population includes, but unlimited to children and minors, the elderly, and educationally and economically disabled (Shivayogi, 2013). Consequently, this group of individuals has special restrictions that are associated with human research. These restrictions include timely and efficient communication, data privacy, and therapeutic deliberations (Shivayogi, 2013). Therefore, such a population needs protection during their participation in human research.

Prioritization of Ethical Principles as Summarized in the Belmont Report

            In the move to protect the rights of human research participants, the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects for Biomedical and Behavioral Research came with the Ethical principle report. The Belmont report summarizes the report into three core ethical principles. In prioritizing the three principles in order of importance, respect for persons becomes the first followed by beneficence, and lastly justice. Respect for persons is important since it allows an individual to accept or decline to participate in research (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2016). Additionally, it becomes a priority among the ethical principles since it is after the acceptance that leads to the benefits and justices (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2016). Moreover, the beneficences supersede the principle justices since it enables the targeted population under study to benefit optimally.