In reply: Rasmussen, Hansen and Nelson have missed the entire thrust of my article.1 When an individual calls a health professional for help, we can assume he or she agrees to standard treatment, but not to be placed into an experiment. Failure to inform patients that they are being placed into an experiment is a denial of basic human rights. I outlined a mechanism by which it would be possible to conduct an experiment such as RARE SALAMI that would comply with the appropriate guidelines and avoid denial of informed consent.
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Correspondence: drmkenn@ozemail.com.au
- 1. Kennedy MC. Clinical trials without consent: some experiments simply cannot be done. Med J Aust 2002; 177: 40-42. <MJA full text>
- 2. McNeil PM. The ethics and politics of human experiment-ation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. 239-240.
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