Informed consent and research design in critical care medicine.

The Nuremberg Code recently celebrated its 50th birthday, marking the progress that has been made in ensuring respect for human rights both within and beyond the context of medical research Today, many journal editors will refuse to consider manuscripts that have not undergone formal review by an independent committee, and virtually none will publish results that were procured without the explicit informed consent of the subjects. In one sense, therefore, the bioethics movement of the past several decades seems to have scored a resounding victory.