Whats the ethical issue involved in dementia research?
A. In research, people almost always have to give their own informed consent. However, devastating illnesses such as Alzheimer’s affect people’s cognition, so that creates a dilemma. It’s such a bad disease. We need to do a lot of research about it to help people. But on the other hand, because it affects people’s thinking, it’s difficult to get their informed consent. Q. How does the law handle the issue of surrogate consent? A. Laws are very unclear about what’s permissible and what’s not. The federal law says yes, in theory, if you get a legally authorized representative to give permission (for a patient to participate in a study), it’s OK. However, the federal law also says the definition of a legally authorized representative is up to the states and local government to make up. But very few places have done that. So over the years, there have been controversies about who can provide (consent) and in what types of research they can provide it. The federal government has in the past
