Presumed consent in emergency neonatal research

Current methods of obtaining consent for emergency neonatal research are flawed. They risk aggravating the distress of parents of preterm and other sick neonates. This distress, and the inevitable time constraints, compromise understanding and voluntariness, essential components of adequately inform...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of medical ethics 2000-08, Vol.26 (4), p.249-253
Main Author: Manning, D J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Babies
Bioethics
Clinical research
Clinical trials
Clinical Trials as Topic - standards
consent
Disclosure
emergency research
Emergency Treatment - standards
Ethics
Ethics, Medical
Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation
Female
Freedom
Human Experimentation
Humans
Infant, Newborn
Infants
Informed consent
Intensive Care, Neonatal - standards
Medical ethics
Medical research
neonate
Newborns
Parental Consent
Parents
Parents - psychology
Patient Selection
Pediatrics
Personal Autonomy
Pregnancy
Presumed Consent
Recruitment
Research methods
Respiratory distress syndrome
United Kingdom
United States
Ventilation
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Summary:Current methods of obtaining consent for emergency neonatal research are flawed. They risk aggravating the distress of parents of preterm and other sick neonates. This distress, and the inevitable time constraints, compromise understanding and voluntariness, essential components of adequately informed consent. Current practice may be unjust in over-representing babies of more vulnerable and deprived parents. The research findings may thus not be generalisable. Informing parents antenatally about the possible need for emergency neonatal research, with presumed consent and scope for opting out, would address these problems. It would spare parents of sick neonates, already terrified by their baby's illness, further distress. Experience with opting out suggests that recruitment might increase, thus generating earlier results, without compromising parental understanding of the nature and purpose of the research.
ISSN:0306-6800
1473-4257
DOI:10.1136/jme.26.4.249