Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
To be vulnerable means to be exposed to the possibility of harm, while being
substantially unable to protect oneself.
For someone to be vulnerable there must be relevant risk present. The mere
absence of protection does not amount to vulnerability. For example, when we
walk the streets of Paris or Berlin we may be unprotected against malaria, but we
are not vulnerable to malaria, because there is no danger of contracting the dis-
ease. In the absence of relevant potential harm it makes no sense to speak of vul-
nerability. But even in the presence of relevant potential harm, or danger, we are
not necessarily vulnerable. We might be travelling through a rural area in Africa,
where malaria is prevalent, but enjoy the protection of prophylactic medication,
bednets or immediate access to health care upon infection. In this case there is a
general danger of contracting malaria in the area where we are travelling, but we
have the best available protection. In order to account for both the external ele-
ment (presence of potential harm) and the internal element (lack of relevant pro-
tection), our definition of vulnerability includes both the exposure to possible
harm and the substantial lack of available protection.
However, the definition still needs some clarification for the research context.
First, the external element seems too broad. We are all exposed to the possibility
of harm, one way or another. No one is ever
completely
safe - not even Superman
and other superheroes, otherwise there would be no thrill in watching them over-
come adversaries. If everybody is vulnerable, then no one deserves special pro-
tection on the grounds of vulnerability. Hence, that cannot be what is meant by
'vulnerability' in the research context. When we talk about vulnerability, we are
not talking about
any
possibility of
any
harm. When somebody leaves the house
to take part in a research study, her purse might be stolen at a busy train station,
but that is not what is meant here. We want the external element to be specific and
relevant, so we will talk about a
significant probability
of an
identifiable
harm. The
external element of our definition then reads:
To be vulnerable means to face a significant probability of incurring an iden-
tifiable harm…
The whole purpose of Kathy's, Ruth's and Tommy's lives is to be sacrificed for
others. Hence we have a clearly identifiable harm (death through organ harvesting)
and a significant probability of it occurring, given that powerful others are driving
towards this harm.
Second, the internal element needs further explication. It is not clear what sort of
ability we are talking about when we say that the vulnerable lack the ability to protect
themselves or their interests. To take an example from the research context, a poten-
tial research participant who is illiterate would not be able to read an information
