Complexities of Informed Consent

In: The annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Band 437, S. 37-48

Abstract

Informed consent has emerged as an issue both of great importance & substantial uncertainty & confusion. Examined are some of the conceptual & practical complexities of informed consent; some implications of empirical knowledge are suggested. Among the issues considered are the purposes of informed consent, ethical vs legal functions of informed consent, the distinction between informed consent & consent forms, & whether informed consent is an ideal that can never be achieved. Informed consent is presently not a reliable method of protecting Ss & patients from harm because of limited commitment of professionals to the concept itself, the tendency for procedures to be substituted for substance, the dependence of the quality of consent on many factors, including the characteristics of the Ss or patients, and the tendency of human Ss review committees to confine their attention to consent forms rather than to the process by which consent is sought, & lack of knowledge about how to judge r1sks, benefits, & the selection of research Ss. Modified HA.