Informed Consent

Massachusetts judge ordered forced abortion and sterilization of mentally ill woman

Michael Cook | 21 January 2012

It is difficult to imagine a case better scripted for a discussion of informed consent than Mary Moe’s Massachusetts abortion.

Taiwan to destroy millions of tissue samples

Michael Cook | 02 December 2011

Millions of biomedical samples in Taiwan could soon be destroyed because they were obtained without proper informed consent. According to a recent law, all specimens must have the participants' written consent or they must be destroyed on February 5. The decision has put Taiwanese researchers at loggerheads with human rights groups.

Informed consent in Netherlands: circumcision

Michael Cook | 12 November 2011

Dutch doctors should discourage the circumcision of boys, even from Jewish and Muslim families, says the Royal Dutch Medical Association (KNMG), because children cannot give informed consent.

Panel urges ethics study of testing anthrax vaccine on children

Jared Yee | 03 November 2011

Informed consent and the possible threat of terrorist attack have clashed in a debate over whether an anthrax vaccine should be tested on children.

Are we morally obliged to participate in research?

Michael Cook | 22 October 2011

Bioethics debates are often robust, but it’s not every day that they make a reader sick. This was the reaction of Professor Bill Gleason, of the University of Minnesota Medical School, a columnist for the Chronicle of Higher Education. He had just attended a seminar at his university, “Do people have a moral obligation to participate in research?”. The contrarian views of Rosamund Rhodes, of Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, in New York, were so unsettling that he needed three beers to come back to earth.

When faith puts life at risk

Jared Yee | 01 October 2011

At least 10 child deaths per year in the United States result from faith-based medical neglect, an article in American Medical News claims. Some parents refuse care for their children on the grounds that their faith forbids it.

Interview: John D. Arras on the Guatemala syphilis study

Michael Cook | 26 September 2011

Flawed papers based on unethical UK research remain unretracted

Jared Yee | 20 August 2011

Research papers based on body parts taken from hundreds of dead children without their parents’ consent were “fundamentally flawed,” according to a January 2001 report. However, over a decade later, Nature News reports that only one of those papers has been removed from the scientific record. The lack of action – even in what seems to be a clear-cut case – could point to reluctance by institutions and journals in retracting papers when the authors stand by the results.

Permission sought to allow “minimally conscious” woman to die in UK

Michael Cook | 30 July 2011

The relatives of a woman who is “minimally conscious” have asked the British court to allow her to die by withdrawing her food and water.

Surgery on hold as patient appeals competency finding

Jared Yee | 07 April 2011

In March the Montana Supreme Court allowed a woman to appeal a court-ordered hysterectomy.

Unconscious patients examined without consent

Jared Yee | 04 February 2011

Students did what they were told despite misgivings

Unauthorised tests could land execs in jail

Michael Cook | 03 December 2010

Company did unauthorised tests of bone cement

Obama calls for investigation into Guatamala STD study

Michael Cook | 27 November 2010

Commission to report in September

US apologizes for 1940s unethical research in Guatemala

Michael Cook | 02 October 2010

696 people infected with syphilis

Ignore wishes of dead if their organs are needed, say British bioethicists

Michael Cook | 02 October 2010

Choice when dead is nonsense

Should clinical trials be used as marketing exercises?

Michael Cook | 04 September 2010

Death in anti-psychotic trial raises disturbing questions.

Berkeley backpedals on releasing genetic information to college students

Jared Yee | 21 August 2010

California Dept of Public Health criticises, university backs down

May doctors ethically retrieve eggs from comatose women?

Michael Cook | 31 July 2010

Intriguing case at MGH

Man wants to donate his organs, now

Jared Yee | 31 July 2010

Wants to save “five to ten people”

German anatomists confront Nazi past

Michael Cook | 24 July 2010

Is a global debate on ethical use of cadavers needed?