No research for the decisionally-impaired mentally ill: a view from Montenegro.

BMC Medical Ethics
Tea Dakić

Abstract

Many of the important elements of a valid informed consent - comprehension, voluntariness, and capacity - can be compromised or unmet in the context of psychiatric research. The inability to protect their own interests puts mentally ill subjects at an increased likelihood of being wronged or harmed and makes them particularly vulnerable in the context of clinical research. Therefore, they are due extra protection. Sometimes, these additional safeguards can significantly limit the possibilities for research involving subjects deemed unable to consent due to their mental illness. Montenegro, a middle-income country in Southern-Eastern Europe, goes so far in their policy to protect these subjects from harms of research, as to ban all biomedical research on mentally ill persons who are unable to provide consent. Mental health research is often neglected and very low on the list of health research priorities, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Despite the fact that mental health disorders are among leading causes of disability, the need for evidence-based services and interventions for those affected remains unmet. To exclude all members of a certain group of subjects seems extremely restrictive and unnecessary. Such a ...Continue Reading

References

Jun 6, 2000·Archives of General Psychiatry·W T CarpenterP S Appelbaum
Mar 12, 2004·Primary Care Companion to the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry·Raphael J. Leo
Jun 29, 2005·American Journal of Public Health·Neal Dickert, Jeremy Sugarman
Oct 27, 2010·World Psychiatry : Official Journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA)·Vikram PatelUNKNOWN WPA Zonal and Member Society Representatives
Oct 22, 2013·JAMA : the Journal of the American Medical Association·UNKNOWN World Medical Association

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