Discussion: The research study I chose is about the ophthalmic experiments conducted by Josef Mengele. He was known as the Angel of Death and was a German Schutzstaffel officer and doctor during World War II. Although Mengele was not an ophthalmologist, the objective of this study was to find a cure for heterochromia. Mengele had multiple heterochromatic prisoners at Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1943 who were used as his test subjects. He would send their eyes to another researcher, Magnussen, in Berlin for examination.

Mengele administered adrenaline drops into children inmates’ eyes in an attempt to change eye color and to study environmental influences (Halioua, 2020). No change of eye color ever took place during this experiment. This experiment caused inflamed eyes that diminished sight, created fear and distress, and even death of a newborn baby (Richard, 2020). The ethical principles violated were informed consent, autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice. I believe every provision of the ANA Code of Ethics was violated but the main provisions violated were 1.1, 1.2, and 1.4. Mengele had no respect for human dignity regarding the prisoners of the Holocaust. The relationship with the patients was also not respected and bias and prejudice were not set aside. Human dignity was not recognized among the patients, and they did not have the legal right to determine what will be done to themselves since they were prisoners (American Nurses Association, 2017). The researchers could have avoided this violation by understanding there is no scientific benefit that could have been derived from this procedure. This procedure should have never occurred, and it is disturbing to know this experiment and hundreds of others happened during the Holocaust.

Discussion: I chose to look into the hepatitis study done between the years of 1956 and 1970 at the Willowbrook School for Mentally Retarded Children. During this study, experimental vaccines for hepatitis were administered to students of the school without a full explanation of the risks included in the study. New students admitted to the school were purposefully infected with viral hepatitis A and B and parental consent was obtained in a group method (da Gloria et al., 2015).

Ethical principles that were violated in this study include the principles of informed consent and non-maleficence. The parents of this study were not fully told the risks of participating in the study and consent was obtained in a group setting which could influence one’s decision. Also, the principle of nonmaleficence is tied to the idea of doing no harm to our patients, when clearly, harm was inflicted on these children with the injections of a virus. As for the Code of Ethics, there are a number of provisions that were violated in this study. Some of these violations include provisions 1.1, 3.2, and 5.5. The researchers of this study lacked respect for human dignity and failed to protect the human rights of the students at this school (American Nurses Association, 2017). The researchers could have avoided these violations by taking a step back and realizing that they were exploiting the rights of children who were unable to speak for themselves. Also, the researchers could have worked harder to provide informed consent to the parents of the children with an explicit explanation of the research going to be conducted and what the benefits/risks would be. It is upsetting to look back on this study and see how long these experiments were conducted.

Explain how assessment is critical for learning and how reliability and validity relate to quality assessments that promote learning. Also, discuss one new idea from this chapter for you about assessment and how it changes your ideas of assessment as a student yourself.

Your 4-year-old nephew has been diagnosed with autism. Your dad doesn’t understand what that means. Explain to your dad the symptoms that comprise autistic disorder, and assess the potential for the treatment of autism. Next, your mom blames your brother, saying he’s too permissive and doesn’t give your nephew enough affection. Include in your essay an explanation to your mom why it is no longer believed that parenting plays a role in autism.

2.  Your 13-year-old sister has been diagnosed with ADHD. Your grandmother has no idea what that means, but she is very worried—she has heard that kids who get diagnosed with this disorder get put in “dumb” classes. Describe to your grandmother the symptoms of ADHD and assess the potential for treatment. In your essay be sure to explain to your grandmother the main concern for children diagnosed with ADHD, and evaluate ways that this concern may be addressed.