Clinical trials of xenotransplantation: waiver of the right to withdraw from a clinical trial should be required.
Xenotransplantation pits clinical research ethics against public health needs because recipients must undergo long-term, perhaps life-long, surveillance for infectious diseases. This surveillance requirement is effectively an abrogation of the right to withdraw from a clinical trial. Ulysses contracts, which are advance directives for future care, may be an ethical mechanism by which to balance public health needs against limitation of individual rights.
Spillman
Monique A
MA
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center, Denver,Colorado, USA.
Sade
Robert M
RM
D016223:Advance Directives / Q000941:ethics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D002678:Chimera; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000941:ethics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D010352:Patient Dropouts / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000941:ethics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014481:United States