title: Returning Results: Let's Be Honest!
abstract: Biobank research has the potential to return results that could have beneficial and even life-saving consequences for participants. This possibility raises some important questions, not only about the ethical duty to return results within a research setting, but also about participants' right to refuse results and researchers' responsibility to respect that choice. This article argues in favor of adopting a return-of-results policy that limits participants' ability to refuse clinically relevant and actionable results. We state that biobanks should allow donors only if they are aware of and agree to this return policy. If they do not agree to this, they retain the option not to participate in the biobank research. The aim of this article is to discuss the practical and ethical reasons in favor of this return-of-result policy and, thus, to underline the importance of "honesty" in biobanking regulations.
authors.affiliation: 1 Institute for Biomedical Ethics, University of Basel , Basel, Switzerland .|2 University Center of Legal Medicine of Geneva and Lausanne, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland .
authors.forename: Bernice S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Elger
authors.affiliation: 1 Institute for Biomedical Ethics, University of Basel , Basel, Switzerland .
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: De Clercq
mesh_terms: D018070:Biological Specimen Banks / Q000941:ethics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans
keywords: biobanking; honesty; policy; refusal; return of results