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 risks and benefits is proposed-a method grounded in the principles of liberal government.