title: Vulnerable Subjects: Why Does Informed Consent Matter?
abstract: This special issue of the Journal Law, Medicine & Ethics takes up the concern of informed consent, particularly in times of controversy. The dominant moral dilemmas that frame traditional bioethical concerns address medical experimentation on vulnerable subjects; physicians assisting their patients in suicide or euthanasia; scarce resource allocation and medical futility; human trials to develop drugs; organ and tissue donation; cloning; xenotransplantation; abortion; human enhancement; mandatory vaccination; and much more. The term "bioethics" provides a lens, language, and guideposts to the study of medical ethics. It is worth noting, however, that medical experimentation is neither new nor exclusive to one country. Authors in this issue address thorny subjects that span borders and patients: from matters dealing with children and vaccination to the language and perception of consent.
authors: Michele Goodwin, J.D., LL.M., is a Chancellor's Professor of Law at the University of California, Irvine with appointments at the School of Law, Program in Public Health, Department of Criminology, Law, & Society, Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Center for Psychology and Law. She is the founder and director of the Center for Biotechnology and Global Health Policy at UC Irvine School of Law and its internationally acclaimed Reproductive Justice Initiative. Her publications include five books and over 70 articles and book chapters on law's regulation of the human body, including civil and criminal regulation of pregnancy and reproduction, reproductive technologies, human trafficking (for organs, sex, and marriage), and tissue and organ transplantation.
authors: Michele
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authors: Goodwin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D026688:Bioethical Issues; D001675:Bioethics; D002648:Child; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D005065:Euthanasia; D005260:Female; D006805:Human Experimentation; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D014611:Vaccination / Q000941:ethics; D035862:Vulnerable Populations