Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Let's Experiment On Alzheimer's Patients, Shall We?

Well, ethical guidelines around research on any subject, human or animal, are important and appropriate. But there are always bioethicists will in to push the envelope. We're now starting to see calls for redrawing ethical guidelines to include people who of their own volition cannot consent to participating in research. The commonsense answer, of course, is that if they can't consent (e.g., because of Alzheimer’s) they cannot participate. BUT some people are willing to change this. Read this about suggestions of rewriting the rules to experiment on people who can’t give their own consent.
New ethical guidelines needed for dementia research
How do we handle the ethical dilemmas of research on adults who can’t give their informed consent? In a recent article in the journal Bioethics, ethicist Stefan Eriksson proposes a new approach to the dilemma of including dementia patients and others with limited decision making capabilities in research. more

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