BMJ  2006;333 (22 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7560.0-f

Editor's choice

Whose research is it anyway?

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Taking part in research has had a bad press. No wonder, given catastrophic reactions to new drugs that were being tested in London and Baltimore, the use of dead children's organs without their parents' consent in Liverpool, and drug trials in India done with inadequate consent. These are extreme examples that do not reflect the careful and respectful approach of most researchers. But even the best researchers struggle to strike a proper balance between the overall public good of their work and the need to respect and protect the privacy of research participants. So this week's BMJ carries the first of a series of articles debating confidentiality and consent in medical research.

The huge patient databases of the NHS provide unique opportunities for clinical and epidemiological analysis. But research involving patients or their personal data in the United Kingdom is now regulated by multiple sets of rules and laws that . . . [Full text of this article]

Trish Groves, deputy editor

(tgroves@bmj.com)


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Rapid Responses:

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