Commentary: No consent means not treating the patient with respect

Abstract

It is presumably often difficult for researchers to commit themselves wholeheartedly to the notion that before consent (or refusal) is obtained for research it is necessary that the person concerned should be given the fullest information about the project for which his or her agreement is wanted. The concerns expressed by the researchers–not least the possibility of biasing results–are intelligible. However, they are also insufficient to justify deviation from the general rule. Researchers in many topics face the same problems about possibly influencing results and seek to minimise the possible impact this may have. Many kinds of research–clinical and non-clinical–must and do tackle similar problems while still turning out high quality work. However, this and the other rationales cited by …