ABSTRACT
The committees were given results from Euricon research which indicated that in the case of just over 70" of parents interviewed there was some doubt as to whether those parents had been competent to consent to their child's participation in research. In the light of the information given to them, it is somewhat surprising that only three-quarters of the committees agreed that in neonatal research parents might sometimes not be fully competent to give consent. The Research Ethics Committees (RECs) were informed that whilst all participating committees required that parents be given information sheets about proposed research, parents reported that in less than half of cases had they read the sheets prior to reaching their decision. The committees were informed that Euricon had found that parents sometimes reported feeling coerced, and also that RECs surveyed had been almost unanimous in reporting that they did not monitor what actually happened on ground when research teams engaged in process of seeking consent.
