Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Supererogation in clinical research

  • Scientific Contribution
  • Published:
Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

‘Supererogation’ is the notion of going beyond the call of duty. The concept of supererogation has received scrutiny in ethical theory, as well as clinical bioethics. Yet, there has been little attention paid to supererogation in research ethics. Supererogation is examined in this paper from three perspectives: (1) a summary of two analyses of ‘supererogation’ in moral theory, as well as an examination as to whether acts of supererogation exist; (2) a discussion of supererogation in clinical practice, including arguments that both physicians and patients can practice acts of supererogation; (3) a discussion as to why researchers, qua researchers, are not routinely recognized to perform acts of supererogation, while at the same time the very nature of research subject participation involves supererogation. The article concludes by considering three examples of supererogation on the part of researchers, with a plea that researchers’ supererogatory actions be recognized as such.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. I wish to thank an anonymous reviewer for recommending that I make this observation.

References

  • Brown, B.F. 2006. Proxy consent for the incompetent elderly. In Biomedical ethics, eds. T.A. Mappes and D. DeGrazia, 240–247. New York: McGraw Hill.

  • Callahan, D. 2003. What price better health? Hazards of the research imperative. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Downie, R.S. 2002. Supererogation and altruism: A comment. Journal of Medical Ethics 28(2): 75–76.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Glannon, W., and Ross, L. 2002. Are doctors altruistic? Journal of Medical Ethics 28(2): 68–69.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Heyd, D. 1982. Supererogation. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • King, N.M.P. 2000. Defining and describing benefit appropriately in clinical trials. Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 28: 332–343.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kottow, M.H. 1990. Against the magnanimous in medical ethics. Journal of Medical Ethics 16(3): 124–128.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McKay, A.C. 2002. Supererogation and the profession of medicine. Journal of Medical Ethics 28(2): 70–73.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mellema, G. 1991. Beyond the call of duty: Supererogation, obligation and offence. Albany, New York: SUNY University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nuremberg Code, 1948. In Research ethics: Text and readings,eds. D.R. Barnbaum and M. Byron, 2001, 28–29. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

  • Standord Online Encyclopedia of Philosophy. ‘Supererogation’, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/supererogation/. Accessed September 7 2006.

  • Thomasma, D.C., and Kushner, T. 1995. A dialogue on compassion and supererogation in medicine. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 4(4): 415–425.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Urmson, J.O. 1958. Saints and heroes. In Essays in moral philospohy, ed. A.I. Melden, 198–216. Seattle: University of Washington Press.

Download references

Acknowledgments

Earlier versions of this paper were presented at two conferences sponsored by Clinical Research Management, one at the Walter Reed Army Institute for Research, Silver Springs, Maryland, in October 2006 and the other in Cleveland, Ohio, in December 2006. Additionally, I wish to thank two anonymous reviewers at Medicine, Healthcare and Philosophy for their helpful comments and suggestions.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, Kent State University, P.O. Box 5190, Kent, OH, 44242-0001, USA

    Deborah R. Barnbaum

Authors
  1. Deborah R. Barnbaum
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Deborah R. Barnbaum.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Barnbaum, D.R. Supererogation in clinical research. Med Health Care and Philos 11, 343–349 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11019-008-9124-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11019-008-9124-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation