Do Medical Student Research Subjects Need Special Protection?

In 1956 the faculty of Harvard Medical School instituted carefully formulated regulations governing the use of medical students as research subjects. The regulations established several echelons of review for projects involving students, a class of subjects for whom the faculty felt it had a special responsibility. No such extra consideration was granted to other adult participants in research. The regulations, issued in a memorandum entitled Rules Governing the Participation of Medical Students as Experimental Subjects, were formulated by the Administrative Board, the body then responsible for approving the use of medical students as research subjects. Several concerns motivated the faculty to adopt the new policy. The Administrative Board observed that there had been a rapid increase in research involving medical students in recent years.' More important, the