Final answer:
After WWII, medical ethical standards changed significantly with the introduction of the Nuremberg Code, the establishment of IRBs, and an increased focus on human rights and public health influenced by global institutions such as the WHO.
Step-by-step explanation:
After World War II, there were significant changes in medical ethical standards, primarily due to the atrocities committed during the war, such as the Nazi medical experiments. The Nuremberg Code was created in response to these abuses and served as the first set of guidelines for clinical trials. This code emphasized the necessity of informed consent and voluntary participation in medical research. Medical advances during the war, such as penicillin and the processing of blood plasma, also transformed medical practice. However, discriminatory policies, like the segregation of blood supplies, highlighted ongoing ethical challenges.
Post-war, the formation of institutional review boards (IRBs) helped safeguard the rights and welfare of research subjects. Additionally, a new emphasis on human rights and public health emerged, influenced by the founding of the United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO). These changes in medical ethics were also a reaction to unethical studies like the Tuskegee syphilis study, where African American men with syphilis were deliberately left untreated and uninformed of their condition to observe the course of the disease.