Human Rights and Ethics in Research
The nurse who observed that the research participant did not recall signing the consent papers and did not remember the details of the research project to which he had agreed to participate should have stopped the researcher from going any farther with him until it could be ascertained if the man was in a frame of mind to give legal consent. It is the duty of the nurse who is observing the research to be aware of anything that may be detrimental to the well-being of the people she is overseeing, and also to be aware of any infringements upon their legal or human rights. If there was a question as to whether the man really did not remember signing the consent papers and no longer remembered what the project involved, he needed to be removed from the ongoing research and questioned in a more private place regarding his memory of the consent he gave. It could be that he was just confused because of the disruption in his routine or because of the commotion surrounding him, and once he was somewhere quiet, he may have remembered. If this were the case, he would be able to continue with the project if he so chose.
However, if it was determined that he was in a legal mental capacity to offer consent, he must be asked again if he still consents, as his earlier reluctance may be indicative that he has changed his mind and just did not want to say so. He could also have been concerned that the questioning would be hard on his wife, who had just lost her son, and did not want to put her through that; by pretending he did not remember giving consent or anything about the project,...
In either case, the nurse should be protective of the man's legal and human rights and should ask the researcher to stop until his consent can be confirmed. He needs to be reminded that participation in this experiment is voluntary, and that there will be no actions taken against him if he no longer wants to participate. His wife should also be asked again if she still agrees to participate, if the reason for the man's reluctance was to protect her. If she is in a legal mental capacity to give consent, she may still participate in the project even if her husband declines to do so, but it has to be her decision, and her decision needs to be confirmed based on her husband's actions (Manson 2007).
If the husband is found to truly not remember giving consent and does not remember the details of the project, he should be removed from participation and the nurse should not allow the researcher to continue questioning him. Again, his wife's consent and legal mental capacity to give it should be re-confirmed at this point before allowing her to proceed with the experiment, as well (Menikoff 2003).
In this scenario, the research subject's human rights were not observed and there were ethical problems with the experiment. This is because the nurse on duty allowed the researcher to continue with the experiment by questioning the husband who said he did not remember signing the consent form and did not recall the details of the experiment. Once the man had expressed those sentiments, the nurse had…
