Which ethical questions does medical research raise, for example with stem cells and research on people who lack capacity?

Stem cells may in Switzerland only be taken from "surplus" IVF embryos that have no chance of survival anyway; therapeutic cloning aims to grow the patient's "own" replacement tissue; research with children is problematic, but so is doing no research with them at all; and globalised trials raise questions of exploitation and exclusion.

• Stem cell research: in Switzerland, embryonic stem cells may only come from surplus embryos: embryos created during IVF that cannot be used to bring about a pregnancy and therefore have no chance of survival anyway.
• Therapeutic cloning: using cloned cells of ill or injured people (cancer, Parkinson's, diabetes, Alzheimer's, spinal cord injury) to create, via cloned embryonic stem cells with the patient's own genetic material, transplantable "own" replacement tissue.
• Research with people lacking capacity (e.g. children): problematic because they are vulnerable and cannot consent; but equally problematic not to research with them, because then treatments for children are never properly tested.
• Research on humans and globalisation: many trials now run in emerging and developing countries; unequal access drives medical tourism (e.g. US citizens to India) and can leave locals underserved.

The pattern: in each case, protecting the vulnerable (non-maleficence) collides with the benefit research could bring to future patients (beneficence).

Go deeper:

• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: The Ethics of Stem Cell Research — the moral status of the embryo and the surplus-embryo argument.
• Wikipedia: Somatic cell nuclear transfer — the technique behind therapeutic cloning.