The Limits of Consent: A socio-ethical approach to human subject research in medicine
Oonagh Corrigan, John McMillan, Kathleen Liddell, Martin Richards, and Charles Weijer
Abstract
Since its inception as an international requirement to protect patients and healthy volunteers taking part in medical research, informed consent has become the primary consideration in research ethics. Despite the ubiquity of consent, however, scholars have begun to question its adequacy for contemporary biomedical research. This book explores this issue, reviewing the application of consent to genetic research, clinical trials, and research involving vulnerable populations. For example, in genetic research, information obtained from an autonomous research participant may have significant bear ... More
Since its inception as an international requirement to protect patients and healthy volunteers taking part in medical research, informed consent has become the primary consideration in research ethics. Despite the ubiquity of consent, however, scholars have begun to question its adequacy for contemporary biomedical research. This book explores this issue, reviewing the application of consent to genetic research, clinical trials, and research involving vulnerable populations. For example, in genetic research, information obtained from an autonomous research participant may have significant bearing on the interests of family members who have not consented to the study. This casts doubt on the adequacy of consent for such studies. This book also questions the assumptions that informed consent is essential and that it satisfactorily protects the principle of individual autonomy. It reviews recent empirical studies that challenge the possibility of truly informed consent and highlights the extent to which consent is governed by social norms and expectations. It also investigates how consent might be of secondary importance in some circumstances, for example when a research project appears to protect a public or community interest.
Keywords:
medical research,
consent,
biomedical research,
genetic research,
clinical trials,
vulnerable populations,
informed consent,
individual autonomy
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2009 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780199231461 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: September 2009 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199231461.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Oonagh Corrigan, editor
Senior Lecturer in Clinical Education Research, Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Plymouth, UK
John McMillan, editor
Senior Lecturer in Medical Ethics, Philosophy Department and Hull York Medical School, University of Hull, UK
Kathleen Liddell, editor
University Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge, UK
Martin Richards, editor
Emeritus Professor of Family Research, University of Cambridge, UK
Charles Weijer, editor
Professor, Departments of Philosophy and Medicine, University of Western Ontario, Canada
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