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Table 1 Recurrent themes and their elaborations

From: The ethical issues regarding consent to clinical trials with pre-term or sick neonates: a systematic review (framework synthesis) of the analytical (theoretical/philosophical) research

Theme

Elaboration

The ethical basis of parental informed consent for neonatal research

The ethical reasons put forward for the importance of gaining parental consent for neonatal research

Validity of parental consent

Discussion of the requirements to be met if parental consent given is to be viewed as genuine informed consent

Other options for gaining consent

Discussion of different possible methods for gaining consent

Risk and the double-standard between consent for treatment and consent for research

The ethically defensible level of risk to which a neonate undertaking research might be exposed and comparisons with the approach to risk and consent in treatment