Verbal consent in biomedical research: moving toward a future standard practice?

Properly obtaining informed consent is a core obligation for research conducted using human subjects. The traditional informed consent process involves written forms and obtaining signatures. This process remains the standard, but in various research settings, such as COVID-19 and rare disease resea...

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Main Authors: Alycia Noë, Emilie Vaillancourt, Ma’n H. Zawati
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2025-02-01
Series:Frontiers in Genetics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgene.2025.1472655/full
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author Alycia Noë
Emilie Vaillancourt
Ma’n H. Zawati
author_facet Alycia Noë
Emilie Vaillancourt
Ma’n H. Zawati
author_sort Alycia Noë
collection DOAJ
description Properly obtaining informed consent is a core obligation for research conducted using human subjects. The traditional informed consent process involves written forms and obtaining signatures. This process remains the standard, but in various research settings, such as COVID-19 and rare disease research, verbal consent has increasingly become the norm. Although verbal consent is used in these settings, its use is still a subject of debate. This article reviews in what medical settings verbal consent is commonly seen today, various advantages and disadvantages of verbal consent, and its legislative and policy ecosystem. In doing so, this review article asserts that it is time for the debate over verbal consent to come to an end and for legislator and policymakers to acknowledge its use and to formalize the process. This will allow verbal consent to be regulated in a similar manner to written consent and will give clinician-researchers guidance on how to better implement verbal consent in their studies to addressing ongoing concerns with the consenting process as a whole.
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spelling doaj-art-40ac4267ecc64a87aba417bc50ae61132025-08-20T03:04:46ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Genetics1664-80212025-02-011610.3389/fgene.2025.14726551472655Verbal consent in biomedical research: moving toward a future standard practice?Alycia NoëEmilie VaillancourtMa’n H. ZawatiProperly obtaining informed consent is a core obligation for research conducted using human subjects. The traditional informed consent process involves written forms and obtaining signatures. This process remains the standard, but in various research settings, such as COVID-19 and rare disease research, verbal consent has increasingly become the norm. Although verbal consent is used in these settings, its use is still a subject of debate. This article reviews in what medical settings verbal consent is commonly seen today, various advantages and disadvantages of verbal consent, and its legislative and policy ecosystem. In doing so, this review article asserts that it is time for the debate over verbal consent to come to an end and for legislator and policymakers to acknowledge its use and to formalize the process. This will allow verbal consent to be regulated in a similar manner to written consent and will give clinician-researchers guidance on how to better implement verbal consent in their studies to addressing ongoing concerns with the consenting process as a whole.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgene.2025.1472655/fullconsentverbal consentbiomedical researchCOVID-19rare disease
spellingShingle Alycia Noë
Emilie Vaillancourt
Ma’n H. Zawati
Verbal consent in biomedical research: moving toward a future standard practice?
Frontiers in Genetics
consent
verbal consent
biomedical research
COVID-19
rare disease
title Verbal consent in biomedical research: moving toward a future standard practice?
title_full Verbal consent in biomedical research: moving toward a future standard practice?
title_fullStr Verbal consent in biomedical research: moving toward a future standard practice?
title_full_unstemmed Verbal consent in biomedical research: moving toward a future standard practice?
title_short Verbal consent in biomedical research: moving toward a future standard practice?
title_sort verbal consent in biomedical research moving toward a future standard practice
topic consent
verbal consent
biomedical research
COVID-19
rare disease
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgene.2025.1472655/full
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