Duty to disclose what? Querying the putative obligation to return research results to participants
Journal of Medical Ethics 34 (3):210-213 (2008)
Authors |
Franklin Miller
Columbia University
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Abstract |
Many research ethics guidelines now oblige researchers to offer research participants the results of research in which they participated. This practice is intended to uphold respect for persons and ensure that participants are not treated as mere means to an end. Yet some scholars have begun to question a generalised duty to disclose research results, highlighting the potential harms arising from disclosure and questioning the ethical justification for a duty to disclose, especially with respect to individual results. In support of this view, we argue that current rationales for a duty of disclosure do not form an adequate basis for an ethical imperative. We review policy guidance and scholarly commentary regarding the duty to communicate the results of biomedical, epidemiological and genetic research to research participants and show that there is wide variation in opinion regarding what should be disclosed and under what circumstance. Moreover, we argue that there is fundamental confusion about the notion of “research results,” specifically regarding three core concepts: the distinction between aggregate and individual results, amongst different types of research, and across different degrees of result veracity. Even where policy guidance and scholarly commentary have been most forceful in support of an ethical imperative to disclose research results, ambiguity regarding what is to be disclosed confounds ethical action
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DOI | 10.1136/jme.2006.020289 |
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References found in this work BETA
Disclosing Individual Genetic Results to Research Participants.Vardit Ravitsky & Benjamin S. Wilfond - 2006 - American Journal of Bioethics 6 (6):8 – 17.
Best Laid Plans for Offering Results Go Awry.Lisa S. Parker - 2006 - American Journal of Bioethics 6 (6):22 – 23.
Citations of this work BETA
Genomic Contextualism: Shifting the Rhetoric of Genetic Exceptionalism.John A. Lynch, Aaron J. Goldenberg, Kyle B. Brothers & Nanibaa' A. Garrison - 2019 - American Journal of Bioethics 19 (1):51-63.
Do Researchers Have an Obligation to Actively Look for Genetic Incidental Findings?Catherine Gliwa & Benjamin E. Berkman - 2013 - American Journal of Bioethics 13 (2):32-42.
Recognizing the Right Not to Know: Conceptual, Professional, and Legal Implications.Graeme Laurie - 2014 - Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics 42 (1):53-63.
A Framework for Analyzing the Ethics of Disclosing Genetic Research Findings.Lisa Eckstein, Jeremy R. Garrett & Benjamin E. Berkman - 2014 - Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics 42 (2):190-207.
Recognizing the Right Not to Know: Conceptual, Professional, and Legal Implications.Graeme Laurie - 2014 - Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics 42 (1):53-63.
View all 20 citations / Add more citations
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