Law and ethics in consensual harm

ABSTRACT

In recent times there has been an emerging interest in conducting Controlled Human Infection Model studies in low-and-middle-income countries, in which healthy human beings are infected with weakened pathogen strains under controlled conditions. These volunteers are monitored closely so that cures and prevention methods can be developed for the disease. Such studies call into question the legal sophistry of taking consent to harm a person by justifying it for the greater good or advancement of science. This paper analyses the law on the subject and the ethics of obtaining consent to harm another human being as in the context of Controlled Human Infection Models.