Democratic Deliberation about Surrogate Consent for Dementia Research

Alzheimer’s disease, the leading cause of dementia, affects millions of Americans. It is currently incurable, making research imperative. But testing novel interventions requires enrolling elderly incapacitated persons in sometimes dangerous research. Is it permissible for someone else to decide for the subject? Under what conditions? Although the public’s moral opinions could be informative, can we trust traditional surveys to provide anything more than superficial impressions? This talk discusses the results of a democratic deliberation exercise involving a sample of the general public who engaged in in-depth education and peer deliberation about this issue.
Scott Kim, MD, PhD
Co-Director of the Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Michigan
Recorded October 19, 2011