PHIL 7570
CASE STUDIES IN RESEARCH ETHICS
VULNERABLE SUBJECTS
Vulnerable subjecs are those human participants who deserve special protections because either they are of diminished capacity for consent purposes or are placed in a situation that makes them especially vulnerable to coercion or abuse. Accordingly, vulnerable subjects include those subjects who are children (under the age of consent), pregnant, prisoners, people with dimished cognitive capacity, and sometimes populations who are identifiable and subject to stigma.
Required Reading:
- ORI Text: Chapter 3 (pp.31-49); assigned last week: free download at ORI.
- Article: University of Utah Institutional Review Board (IRB) Policies regarding vulnerable participants and special risk groups.
- Case Studies: Vulnerable Subjects (pdf)
Other Articles and Links:
- Panel Suggests Using Inmates in Drug Trials. By Ian Urbina. The New York Times, August 13, 2006.
- Crossing the Line? Medical research on brain-dead people raises ethical questions. The Chronicle of Higher Education, August 1, 2003.
- Ethicists and Biologists Ponder the Price of Eggs. Issues concerning egg donors for stem cell research. Nature, August 10, 2006. 606-608.