Title: A history and theory of informed consent.

POPLINE Document Number: 048065

Author(s):

Faden RR
Beauchamp TL
King NM

Source citation:

New York, New York, Oxford University Press, 1986. xv, 392 p.

Abstract:

This volume provides a historical and conceptual review of informed consent, with particular attention to the special conditions under which such consent is obtained. Topics covered by the book's 10 chapters are: foundations in moral theory, foundations in legal theory, pronouncement and practice in clinical medicine, the emergence of legal doctrine, the development of consent requirements in research ethics, the evolution of federal policy governing human research in the US, the concept of autonomy, the concepts of informed consent and competence, standards of understanding, and coercion, manipulation, and persuasion. A distinction is made between 2 concepts of informed consent--informed consent defined in terms of the conditions of a particular kind of autonomous authorization and informed consent where the nature and acceptability of effective authorizations are established by operative informed consent rules in a particular policy system. Required is a complex balancing of policy objectives, moral considerations, and the interests of various parties in the setting of consent requirements.

Keywords:

Informed Consent
Political Factors
Research Methodology
Ethics
Social Sciences