Informed consent for clinical investigation in the critically ill patient. An introduction to the regulation 536/2014/EC on clinical investigation of medicinal products for human use, repealing Directive 2001/20/EC

Abstract

The principle of patient information, awareness and documented consent for the participation in clinical trials is a cornerstone in the modern ethics of clinical research. However, this procedure is seldom applicable in the critically ill patient who becomes suddenly incapable of fully evaluating the risk vs benefit of the alternative therapeutic options. This issue becomes particularly problematic in those conditions where the benefit of any intervention is highly time-dependent, such as acute myocardial infarction, stroke, cardiac arrest, polytrauma and other similar conditions. The new directive 536/2014/EC defines the concept that in these cases the expert clinician and the Ethics Committees, based upon a rigorous study protocol, are in better conditions, as compared to patients' proxies and any legal representative, to take an appropriate decision. This decision should be later confirmed (deferred consent) by the patient, in case he returns competent, or by his proxies or legal tutor, in order to use experimental data. The new directive ends a long period of disparity among the Member States, some of which had taken unilateral decisions allowing the participation of incapable patients, whereas others, among which Italy, had a more conservative approach. Unfortunately, owing to technical and bureaucratic issues, the new regulation is unlikely to become active before the beginning of 2018.