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Journal of Medical Ethics 2002;28:3-4; doi:10.1136/jme.28.1.3
Copyright © 2002 by the BMJ Publishing Group Ltd & Institute of Medical Ethics.
J Med Ethics 2002;28:3-4
© 2002 Journal of Medical Ethics

CURRENT CONTROVERSY

The hexamethonium asthma study and the death of a normal volunteer in research

J Savulescu1 and M Spriggs2

1 Ethics Program, The Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, Flemington Road, Parkville, Melbourne, Victoria 3052, Australia; savulesj@cryptic.rch.unimelb.edu.au
2 Ethics Program, The Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, Flemington Road, Parkville, Melbourne, Victoria 3052, Australia; spriggsm@murdoch.rch.unimelb.edu.au

Death of a normal volunteer highlights problems with research review and protection of subjects

Keywords: Research ethics committees; publication bias; protection of research subjects; systematic review; coercion; harm

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.


Healthy volunteer dies in asthma study

On July 19, after investigating the death of a previously healthy volunteer, the United States Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) suspended nearly all federally funded medical research involving human subjects at Johns Hopkins University. The death has been described as "particularly disturbing" because 24 year old Ellen Roche was a healthy volunteer who had nothing to gain by taking part in the study.1 Her death has revived debate about the adequacy of oversight of medical research that followed the death of 18 year old Jesse Gelsinger who volunteered for a gene therapy experiment.


Ellen Roche was a 24 year old technician from the Johns Hopkins Asthma and Allergy Centre who volunteered to take part in a study designed to provoke a mild asthma attack in order to help doctors discover the reflex that protects the lungs of healthy people against asthma attacks. After . . . [Full text of this article]


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