Drawing on ethical principles and general ethical rules governing discrete aspects of human research, this article identifies and analyzes the following ethical problems distinctive to biomedical and behavioral research with aged subjects: (1) anti-aging research; (2) health problems in the aged that make them vulnerable to excessive selection for research; (3) conditions of the elderly that create problems of competence and free consent to research; (4) surrogate consent and the problem of guardianship; and (5) special problems in competence and free consent for the institutionalized elderly. Policy recommendations governing research in the aged are offered as well as an agenda for an extensive research project in this area.
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Warren T. Reich (1978) studied this question.