Rate of Refusal to Participate in Clinical Trials

With a diffident potential subject reluctant to ask questions, this can also occur if the investigator explains the experimental procedure too quickly for the potential subject to understand, or if the explanation employs too much medical jargon. Moreover, the investigator has a duty to probe a potential experimental subject's understanding of the procedure. The investigator can consciously or inadvertently apply duress to the potential subject, so that the subject infers that if he does not participate in the study, he will: (1) incur the ill-will of the clinical investigator (this is especially threatening when the investigator is also the experimental subject's own physician); or (2) jeopardize his chances of recovery. Erroneous determination of capacity to give consent represents yet another means by which an investigator could violate the requirements for informed consent. Ob-