Rethinking Informed Consent in Bioethics

Neil C. Manson is Lecturer in Philosophy at the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy, Lancaster University. Onora O'Neill is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge. Her most recent publications include A Question of Trust: The BBC Reith Lectures 2002 (2002) and Autonomy and Trust in Bioethics (2002).

'In this important book, Manson and O'Neill propose a new way of thinking about informed consent - one emphasising the importance of norms appropriate for successful communication such as intelligibility, relevance, accuracy and honesty. This is a significant, timely and internationally relevant contribution to the bioethics literature. It should be essential reading for anyone interested in the ethics of medical research and treatment and in particular for anyone involved in the development of ethics policy.' Michael Parker, Professor of Bioethics and Director of The Ethox Centre, University of Oxford

• 1. Consent: Nuremburg, Helsinki and beyond; 2. Information and communication: the drift from agency; 3. Informing and communicating: back to agency; 4. How to rethink informed consent; 5. Informational privacy and data protection; 6. Genetic information and genetic exceptionalism; 7. Trust, accountability and transparency; Some conclusions and proposals.