Informed patient consent: a historical perspective

This article reviews the concept of informed patient consent by examining two long-term studies in which adequate consent was not obtained from study participants: the radiation experiments sponsored by the U.S. government beginning in the 1940s and the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment conducted from 1932 to 1972. The article discusses how these experiments represent a violation of informed consent guidelines and research ethics. It also explores the ethical implications of the experiments to radiologic technologists today and discusses the technologist's role in obtaining patient consent in research and clinical practice settings.