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BMJ No 7102 Volume 315 Letters Saturday 26 July 1997 Informed consent Not seeking informed consent breaches patient's charter Editor, The patient's charter has not been mentioned in the recent debate about informed consent.(1) The charter tells patients that they have the right to choose whether or not to take part in medical research.(2) Thus, not to seek patients' informed consent before entering them into research is to breach the charter and to nullify patients' legitimate presumptions. Journals should not publish research whose design depends on avoiding consent or that fails to give particulars of how consent was sought. Charlotte Williamson Vice chair, York Health Services NHS Trust York YO3 7BY References 1 Smith R. Informed consent: the intricacies. BMJ 1997;314:1059-60. (12 April.) 2 Department of Health. The patient's charter. London: HMSO, 1991. Home | Current issue | Past issues | Classified ads | Career Focus | Feedback Collections | About this site | About the BMJ | BMA | Medline