Vulnerability in Research Subjects

Abstract

The concept of "vulnerability'' appears to have been grandfathered into the lexicon, lore and literature of research ethics, without undergoing stringent certification. And yet those who have participated in that conversation have long appreciated the need for some such notion. More than fifty years ago, reflecting on the ethical implications of the Nazi medical experiments, the authors of the Nuremberg Code emphasized the necessity of the subject's informed consent, too hastily ruling out, as it quickly became apparent, medically essential research on children and those with cognitive impairments. There was a need for further deliberation.