This work offers a comprehensive understanding rooted in Catholic anthropology and moral theory of the meaning and limits of informed and proxy consent to experimentation on human subjects. In particular, it seeks to articulate the rationale for proxy consent in both therapeutic and nontherapeutic settings. As to the former, the book proposes that the Golden Rule, recognizing the basic inclinations of human nature toward objective goods perfective of human persons, should underpin the notion of proxy consent to experimentation on humans. As to the latter, an additional scrutiny of the amount of risk involved is necessary, since the risk-benefit ratio frequently invoked to justify higher-risk therapeutic research does not exist in its nontherapeutic counterpart. This study discusses a number of possible solutions to this question and develops a position that builds upon the objective notion of the human good.

Inhalt

1. Introduction.- 2. Chapter 1 : The historical development of the principle of free and informed consent debate on the origin of the principle of free and informed consent in medical and research practices.- 3. Chapter 2: The articulation of the principle of free and informed consent in human-rights documents.- 4.Conclusions.- 5. Chapter 3: The major current interpretations of the principle of free and informed consent.- 6. Chapter 4: Introduction to the issue of proxy consent.- 7. Chapter 5: Standards for proxy consent in the therapeutic situation.- 8. Chapter 6: Critique of proxy consent standards.- 9. Chapter 7: The golden rule and proxy decision making.- 10. Chapter 8: Preliminary considerations on proxy consent in the nontherapeutic situation.- 11.Conclusions.- 12. Chapter 9: Proxy consent in nontherapeutic settings.- 13. Chapter 10: Analysis.-
2. Chapter 1: Resolution of issues related to proxy decision making.- 15. Conclusions.