The Mental Health Act Commission's

Abstract

Kendell, a professor in Edinburgh University's Department of Psychiatry, fears that the adoption of the code of practice proposed by the United Kingdom's Mental Health Act Commission would pose a serious threat to psychiatric research, especially nontherapeutic research. The validity of informed consent to nontherapeutic research obtained from all patients (whether involuntarily or voluntarily institutionalized, or living in the community) would have to be verified by a consultant, and the relatives of the patient would have to be fully informed. Patients incapable of giving "real consent" would be barred from participation, thus halting virtually all research on dementia. The author deplores the Commission's lack of confidence in the ability of local ethics committees to safeguard the interests of potential research subjects. (KIE abstract)