Informed Consent to Participation in Medical Research Employing Elderly Human Subjects

The primary question facing researchers who intend to employ elderly human subjects is whether their subjects' advanced age requires that the protection of their autonomy be accomplished in some manner that is different from that employed to protect other subjects. Answering this question will require an analysis of whether elderly subjects have a greater or lesser interest in autonomy than do others who might be subjects in human research, and whether it is more or less important to protect them from potential research abuse. This article will suggest that the elderly may possess several attributes that require that they be employed as research subjects only when the selection process and research design compensate for those attributes