BMJ's present policy (sometimes approving research in which patients have not given fully informed consent) is wholly correct

摘要

Few if any issues engender such passionate—often acrimonious—disagreement among clinicians, ethicists, statisticians, and representatives of patient groups as does the continuing debate about informed consent and clinical research trials. In the blue corner: clinicians and biostatisticians keen to "move the field forward," so to speak, and answer as quickly as possible the research question currently under investigation. In the red corner ...just about everyone else. Anyone left in the centre? Only the hapless referee, in this case the somewhat perplexed journal, whose editorial board-constantly hectored from both sides—somehow has to give all parties a decent airing and ensure fair play.