The Patient's Responsibilities. As a patient, it's ethical to act with self-interest as your primary focus but not necessarily your only focus. Participating in clinical trials may bring up situations in which it isn't easy to decide what's right.

Resources. The resources in this list are mentioned in various articles on this site. Please note that this is a highly selective list of resources related to cancer clinical trials.

Critical Public Documents. The Nuremberg Code, the first formalized set of ethical principles for the conduct of human medical experiments, was developed in 1946. In 1979, the US National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research issued a document known as the Belmont Report, which laid out basic ethical principles for the conduct of clinical trials.

Overview of Clinical Trials. Treatment options available through clinical trials may not be available any other way. This article describes clinical trials in general terms, presents reasons people don't participate in them, and tells why you should consider clinical trials. Also included is a short discussion of traditional and alternative or complementary medicine.