Making Risk-Benefit Assessments of Medical Research Protocols

It is commonly assumed that medical experiments are ethical only if they have favorable "risk-benefit ratios". In this paper it is argued that "risk-benefit ratios" often cannot be calculated, even roughly; and that even if they could, ethical experiments don't need to have favorable "risk-benefit ratios". In addition, a new method of assessing an experiment's risk and benefits is proposed-a method grounded in the principles of liberal government.