Recommendations for implementation of community consultation and public disclosure under the food and drug administration's "Exception from informed consent requirements for emergency research" - A special report from the American heart association emergency cardiovascular care committee and council on cardiopulmonary, perioperative and critical care
Recommendations for implementation of community consultation and public disclosure under the food and drug administration's "Exception from informed consent requirements for emergency research" - A special report from the American heart association emergency cardiovascular care committee and council on cardiopulmonary, perioperative and critical care
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DOI:
10.1161/circulationaha.107.186661
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发表时间:
2007-10-16
期刊:
影响因子:
37.8
通讯作者:
Peberdy, Mary Ann
中科院分区:
文献类型:
--
作者:
Halperin, Henry;Paradis, Norman;Peberdy, Mary Ann
conduct of studies: respect for persons, beneficence, and justice. The report also provides elements used by IRBs to evaluate the ethical standards for individual research proposals. The ethical principles presented in both the Belmont Report and the Declaration of Helsinki have been expanded and clarified in the most recent guidelines published by the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences, 8 especially with regard to the provision of guidelines for the application of ethical standards in local circumstances. A dilemma arises in research studies of interventions for life-threatening emergencies, such as cardiac arrest, neurological emergencies including stroke, and some instances of major trauma. In these circumstances, a potential subject may be eligible for a research study but be unable to give prospective consent owing to impaired consciousness, severe alteration in cognition, or aphasia. Often with such research protocols, the subject must be enrolled immediately so that the potential physiological effects of the experimental intervention can be maximized before the onset of irreversible organ damage. 9, 10The FDA defines the “therapeutic window” as “the time period, based on available scientific evidence, during which administration of the test article might reasonably produce a demonstrable clinical effect.” 11, 12 It is this therapeutic window that is limited or effectively nonexistent for research studies of life-threatening emergencies. There generally is not time to seek out a legally authorized patient representative for disclosure and consent. In addition, consent under such emergency circumstances may not meet the standards of informed consent, because there is little time for the investigator to explain the study, and little time for the patient representative to assess the various treatment options available. 13 In addition, the emotional state of the patient representative may eliminate the possibility of reflecting objectively on the situation. It is especially difficult to obtain informed consent in pediatric populations, in which it has been shown that “the emotional trauma of the diagnosis decreases a mother’s ability to absorb and understand vital information, and the emergent nature of the children’s condition and the urgency to begin treatment further compromise informed consent.” 14