Ethics and the Payment of Research Subjects

Subjects, both healthy controls and patients, are reimbursed for their participation in research. This payment is referred to as inducement and medical ethicists consider inducement to be undue if it can lead to the subject not adequately considering the risks to themselves of taking part in the research or if they withhold information about themselves so as to meet the inclusion criteria for the study. Research has found that higher levels of payment do not necessarily lead subjects to disregard the risks of research, but can lead to them withholding information. Psychiatric patients taking part in research may present special difficulties. Therapeutic misconception is common among psychiatric patients and some psychiatric patients may lack the capacity to consent to take part in research.