Question

The Smith family has very little money and no health insurance. A researcher approaches them and promises free health care for their children for two years if he can subject the children to a series of experimental vaccines, which may have serious side effects. The Smith family does not want harm to come to their children but they feel compelled to participate because of the free health care. According to the APA code of ethics the researcher is violating which principle?a. informed consent b. freedom from coercion c. protection from harm d. debriefing

Answer 1

Answer:

a. informed consent

Explanation:

Informed Consent (IC) is the patient's authorization obtained by the professional to perform an undisputed medical procedure. It is an indispensable condition of the contemporary doctor-patient relationship. It is a voluntary decision, verbal or written, carried out by an autonomous and capable person, taken after an informative process, to accept a specific treatment aware of its risks, benefits and possible consequences.

The researcher who proposed free medical care to the Smith couple's children violated informed consent because informed consent must be voluntary for the patient. In this case, the participation of Smith's children in the research is not voluntary, as patients were offered medical treatment in exchange for their participation in the research. In addition, informed consent must be given by the volunteer, not his parents, and the volunteer must be an autonomous person who can make decisions for himself, so we can conclude that the volunteer cannot be a child.