Moral Entanglements
The Ancillary-Care Obligations of Medical Researchers
Henry S. Richardson
Reviews and Awards
"Henry Richardson has the rare talent of digging deep theoretically, while being attentive to contextual complexities and constraints of practice. For a decade he has been exploring the moral landscape of medical researchers' ancillary care responsibilities. This inquiry has yielded a carefully crafted and rigorously argued book. Through comprehensively examining ancillary care obligations, Richardson illuminates the neglected phenomenon of moral entanglements that arise in professional encounters, and in ordinary life, when privacy rights are waived. Reading his book will reward all those interested in the ethics of clinical research, professional ethics, and moral philosophy." -Franklin G. Miller, Ph.D., Department of Bioethics, National Institutes of Health
"In this wonderful book-distinguished by very careful philosophical analysis and real-world examples-Henry Richardson elaborates the "partial-entrustment" model he and Leah Belsky first advanced a decade ago regarding researchers' obligations to provide care that is ancillary to the purposes of their research projects. He situates this model in a broader set of "entanglements" that will feel very familiar to any person who has engaged not only in medical research but in any complex inter-personal interaction that isn't cabined by the four corners of an explicit contract. Everyone with an interest in biomedical research and research ethics should read this book: they will profit both from recognizing the pervasive issues on which it shines a bright light and from its thoughtful and nuanced responses." - Alexander M. Capron, University Professor, University of Southern California & Former Director, Ethics, Trade, Human Rights and Health Law, WHO
"This book sets out the most comprehensive framework to date for delineating the special responsibilities of researchers to address healthcare needs encountered in research in low-resource settings. By asserting that when particular moral conditions can be met, researchers have obligations to take demanding steps to address entrusted conditions, the account in this book provides decision-makers at the coalface with a clear focus. The author also clearly sets out how this framework relates to previous conceptual contributions to the contested area of 'ancillary care' obligations in research." - Catherine Slack, HIV AIDS Vaccines Ethics Group, South African AIDS Vaccines Initiative, South Africa
"As the author notes in his conclusion, the 'practical neglect of the issue of ancillary care seems to have been accompanied by a widely shared theoretical blind spot.' But Richardson has remedied that error of omission and left us with a fine volume that will be a touchstone for future scholarship and regulation. It is an inspired and highly readable analysis." -- Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
"Moral Entanglements repays close study and sets a fine example of the kind of work to which normative ethics should aspire: engaged, relevant, philosophically rich, and insightful." -- Ethics
