Consent and the ethical duty to participate in health data research

• Published in: Journal of medical ethics Vol. 44; no. 6; pp. 392 - 396
• Main Authors: Ballantyne, Angela, Schaefer, G Owen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BMJ 01.06.2018; BMJ Publishing Group Ltd; BMJ Publishing Group LTD
• Subjects: Bioethics; Biomedical research; Biomedical Research - ethics; Community Participation; Councils; Data Collection - ethics; Ethical aspects; Ethics; Ethics Committees, Research; Ethics, Research; Health surveillance; Humans; Informed consent; Informed consent (Medical law); Informed Consent - ethics; International organizations; Medical research; Medical research volunteers; Medicine, Experimental; Moral Obligations; Participation; Patients; Personal health; Public good; Public health; Public sector; Research ethics; Research Subjects; Researchers; Waivers; informed consent; research ethics; distributive justice

The predominant view is that a study using health data is observational research and should require individual consent unless it can be shown that gaining consent is impractical. But recent arguments have been made that citizens have an ethical obligation to share their health information for resear...