An ethical case explores a lawsuit against Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center of Seattle by patients who claimed they were not told of the full risks associated with a clinical trial they participated in.
Physicians need to understand when it may be appropriate to let patients get involved in medical decision-making and when it may be necessary to provide their personal medical judgment.
The Declaration of Helsinki was recently revised to require that the control arm of a trial use the current standard of care, even if that standard is not generally available in developing nations where the research is being conducted.
Those conducting Western-style clinical trial research in developing countries must consider the manner in which ethical principals are implemented within local standards of care.