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The Belmont Report, promulgated in 1978 by the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects, identifies three related principles intended to characterize the manner in which human subjects should be involved in research. They are: Respect for Persons; Beneficence; and Justice. The principle of Respect for Persons usually finds expression in the process by which human subjects consent to participate in research as subjects. 

Tragically, some thirty years after the publication of The Belmont Report, contemporary studies suggest that informed consent is often elicited in a manner that manifests little respect for the dignity of volunteers who, for the sake of the common good, place themselves in the hands of research investigators.

The jargon used in virtually every institution – “consenting subjects” or “getting consents” -- betrays the fact that eliciting informed consent has often been reduced to the level of an action taken by a Principal Investigator or a member of the research team to obtain a signature on a legal document in order to comply with the law.  All too often “consenting” means little more than a halfhearted and misguided attempt to provide legal cover for investigators and for their institutions.