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Vulnerable Subjects: Why Does Informed Consent Matter?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Michele Goodwin
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Abstract

This special issue of the Journal Law, Medicine & Ethics takes up the concern of informed consent, particularly in times of controversy. The dominant moral dilemmas that frame traditional bioethical concerns address medical experimentation on vulnerable subjects; physicians assisting their patients in suicide or euthanasia; scarce resource allocation and medical futility; human trials to develop drugs; organ and tissue donation; cloning; xenotransplantation; abortion; human enhancement; mandatory vaccination; and much more. The term “bioethics” provides a lens, language, and guideposts to the study of medical ethics. It is worth noting, however, that medical experimentation is neither new nor exclusive to one country. Authors in this issue address thorny subjects that span borders and patients: from matters dealing with children and vaccination to the language and perception of consent.

Type
Symposium Articles
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 44 , Issue 3: Contemporary Challenges in Informed Consent: Law, Research Practice, and Ethics , Fall 2016 , pp. 371 - 380
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2016

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