PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Tom Buller
TI  - Advance consent, critical interests and dementia research
AID  - 10.1136/medethics-2014-102024
DP  - 2015 Aug 01
TA  - Journal of Medical Ethics
PG  - 701--707
VI  - 41
IP  - 8
4099  - http://jme.bmj.com/content/41/8/701.short
4100  - http://jme.bmj.com/content/41/8/701.full
SO  - J Med Ethics2015 Aug 01; 41
AB  - Although advance directives have become a familiar instrument within the context of treatment, there has been minimal support for their expansion into the context of research. In this paper I argue that the principle of precedent autonomy that grants a competent person the right to refuse life-sustaining treatment when later incompetent, also grants a competent person the right to consent to research that is greater than minimal risk. An examination of the principle of precedent autonomy reveals that a future-binding research decision is within the scope of a competent person's critical interests, if the decision is consistent with what the person believes gives her life intrinsic value.