Commentary: Ethics of clinical research without patients' consent

Abstract

What makes a research project ethical? A series of criteria need to be satisfied. Difficulties arise when only some of them can be satisfied or, as in the case of this trial, when two of them are mutually exclusive. The criteria are that the research is aimed at obtaining a desirable end, that the research subjects will not be harmed by being in the trial, and that the research subjects are consulted before being enrolled into the research.