Maryland Shock Trauma seeks community consent on blood plasma study

If approved, patients will automatically become part of medical research

"This notion that you can refuse consent with an armband is hilarious," said Leonard Glantz, a professor of health law, bioethics and human rights at the Boston University School of Public Health. "The whole idea is silly. There is no evidence that a lot of people will wear an armband."

Bioethicists said community consultation also raises concern in African-American communities where distrust of medical studies is ingrained. And many others, no matter their race, don't want to be the subject of an experiment.

"There is some apprehension, which I frankly think is for the most part misplaced," Scalea said. "I think people say, 'I don't want you to experiment on me.' But if you come in here and I'm on call you get this, and if my partner is on call you get that."

Hopkins' Haut agrees that community consultation in lieu of individual consent is a valid way of conducting research. He expects more studies to use the tool.

"There are really important questions in trauma and emergency research that are hard to do without community consent," he said.

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