Natural justice and human research ethics committees: an Australia-wide survey

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To determine how familiar human research ethics committees (HRECs) are with the principles of natural justice and whether they apply these principles. DESIGN AND SETTING: A postal survey conducted between April and September 2002 of the Chairs of all HRECs registered with the Australian Health Ethics Committee of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) in 2001. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: HRECs' reported familiarity with, and application of, three principles of natural justice: (1). the hearing rule, requiring a decision maker to allow a person affected by a decision to present his or her case; (2). the rule against bias, requiring a decision maker to be unbiased in th..