Informed Consent in the Development of Case Studies

The informed consent of human subjects is a fundamental principle of research ethics. Informed consent is a core principle in international codes of research ethics, as well as in discipline-specific guides to the ethical conduct of research. Scholars developing case reports or case studies need to be aware of the considerations that are involved in assuring that the principle of informed consent is honored, whether or not the case study is construed as a research project. This paper describes basic issues involved in the application of the principle of informed consent, with particular attention to those considerations that apply in the development of case reports or case studies.