IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v61y2005i6p1201-1210.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

'At the point at which you can do something about it, then it becomes more relevant': Informed consent in the pharmacogenetic clinic

Author

Listed:
  • Hedgecoe, Adam

Abstract

Sociological investigation of informed consent has generated rich and complex descriptions of the clinical encounter, often challenging the straightforward picture painted by medical ethicists. This paper builds on this work, drawing on ideas from the Sociology of Science and Technology, to explore informed consent issues surrounding the use of the drug Herceptin, widely cited as an example of a novel approach to drug development called pharmacogenetics. Drawing on qualitative semi-structured interviews with 25 UK-based breast cancer specialists, this paper explores Herceptin's disputed epistemological status, as an example of pharmacogenetics or as something out of the ordinary in terms of clinical practice. It considers how, in turn, this impacts on the way in which informed consent is sought and influenced by clinicians' desire to protect patients from possibly distressing test results. It highlights the flexible, contingent and context dependent nature of informed consent in the clinical setting.

Suggested Citation

  • Hedgecoe, Adam, 2005. "'At the point at which you can do something about it, then it becomes more relevant': Informed consent in the pharmacogenetic clinic," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(6), pages 1201-1210, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:61:y:2005:i:6:p:1201-1210
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(05)00057-2
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. May, Carl & Ellis, Nicola T., 2001. "When protocols fail: technical evaluation, biomedical knowledge, and the social production of 'facts' about a telemedicine clinic," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 53(8), pages 989-1002, October.
    2. May, Carl & Gask, Linda & Atkinson, Theresa & Ellis, Nicola & Mair, Frances & Esmail, Aneez, 2001. "Resisting and promoting new technologies in clinical practice: the case of telepsychiatry," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 52(12), pages 1889-1901, June.
    3. Berg, Marc, 1997. "Problems and promises of the protocol," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 44(8), pages 1081-1088, April.
    4. Rodin, Mari, 1992. "The social construction of premenstrual syndrome," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 49-56, July.
    5. Fujimura, Joan H. & Chou, Danny Y., 1994. "Dissent in science: Styles of scientific practice and the controversy over the cause of AIDS," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 1017-1036, April.
    6. Salander, Pär, 2002. "Bad news from the patient's perspective: an analysis of the written narratives of newly diagnosed cancer patients," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 55(5), pages 721-732, September.
    7. Harth, S. C. & Thong, Y. H., 1995. "Parental perceptions and attitudes about informed consent in clinical research involving children," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 40(11), pages 1573-1577, June.
    8. Edwards, Sarah J. L. & Lilford, Richard J. & Thornton, Jim & Hewison, Jenny, 1998. "Informed consent for clinical trials: in search of the "best" method," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 47(11), pages 1825-1840, December.
    9. Harth, S. C. & Thong, Y. H., 1995. "Parental perceptions and attitudes about informed consent in clinical research involving children," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 41(12), pages 1647-1651, December.
    10. Kent, Gerry, 1996. "Shared understandings for informed consent: The relevance of psychological research on the provision of information," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 43(10), pages 1517-1523, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gabe, Jonathan & Chamberlain, Kerry & Norris, Pauline & Dew, Kevin & Madden, Helen & Hodgetts, Darrin, 2012. "The debate about the funding of Herceptin: A case study of ‘countervailing powers’," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(12), pages 2353-2361.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. May, Carl & Finch, Tracy & Mair, Frances & Mort, Maggie, 2005. "Towards a wireless patient: Chronic illness, scarce care and technological innovation in the United Kingdom," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(7), pages 1485-1494, October.
    2. Nicolini, Davide, 2006. "The work to make telemedicine work: A social and articulative view," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(11), pages 2754-2767, June.
    3. Barata, Paula C. & Gucciardi, Enza & Ahmad, Farah & Stewart, Donna E., 2006. "Cross-cultural perspectives on research participation and informed consent," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 479-490, January.
    4. Kate Lyle, 2021. "Interventional STS: A Framework for Developing Workable Technologies," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 26(2), pages 410-426, June.
    5. Snowdon, Claire & Elbourne, Diana & Garcia, Jo, 2006. ""It was a snap decision": Parental and professional perspectives on the speed of decisions about participation in perinatal randomised controlled trials," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(9), pages 2279-2290, May.
    6. Williams, Tracy & May, Carl & Mair, Frances & Mort, Maggie & Gask, Linda, 2003. "Normative models of health technology assessment and the social production of evidence about telehealth care," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 39-54, April.
    7. Na-Kyoung Hwang & Sun-Hwa Shim & Hye-Won Cheon, 2022. "Use of Information and Communication Technology by South Korean Occupational Therapists Working in Hospitals: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-13, May.
    8. Brownlie, Julie & Howson, Alexandra, 2006. "'Between the demands of truth and government': Health practitioners, trust and immunisation work," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 433-443, January.
    9. Schaepe, Karen Sue, 2011. "Bad news and first impressions: Patient and family caregiver accounts of learning the cancer diagnosis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(6), pages 912-921, September.
    10. Bee, Penny Elizabeth & Lovell, Karina & Lidbetter, Nicola & Easton, Katherine & Gask, Linda, 2010. "You can't get anything perfect: "User perspectives on the delivery of cognitive behavioural therapy by telephone"," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(7), pages 1308-1315, October.
    11. Ouart, Lydia-Maria, 2010. "„Umrechnen auf täglich“: wie in Pflegegutachten Zahlen entstehen," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, pages 135-165.
    12. Weisz, George & Knaapen, Loes, 2009. "Diagnosing and treating premenstrual syndrome in five western nations," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(8), pages 1498-1505, April.
    13. Reich, Adam, 2012. "Disciplined doctors: The electronic medical record and physicians' changing relationship to medical knowledge," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(7), pages 1021-1028.
    14. Chaufan, Claudia & Hollister, Brooke & Nazareno, Jennifer & Fox, Patrick, 2012. "Medical ideology as a double-edged sword: The politics of cure and care in the making of Alzheimer’s disease," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(5), pages 788-795.
    15. Gibson, Mark & Neil Jenkings, K. & Wilson, Rob & Purves, Ian, 2006. "Verbal prescribing in general practice consultations," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(6), pages 1684-1698, September.
    16. John Martyn Chamberlain, 2010. "Portfolio-Based Performance Appraisal for Doctors: A Case of Paperwork Compliance," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 15(1), pages 68-76, February.
    17. Andreassen, Hege K. & Dyb, Kari & May, Carl R. & Pope, Catherine J. & Warth, Line L., 2018. "Digitized patient–provider interaction: How does it matter? A qualitative meta-synthesis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 215(C), pages 36-44.
    18. Ryan Light & jimi adams, 2016. "Knowledge in motion: the evolution of HIV/AIDS research," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 107(3), pages 1227-1248, June.
    19. Brantnell, Anders & Wagrell, Sofia, 2024. "Implementation of medical technology in management and engineering studies: A systematic literature review and future research agenda," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    20. Jaspers, Patricia & Houtepen, Rob & Horstman, Klasien, 2013. "Ethical review: Standardizing procedures and local shaping of ethical review practices," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 311-318.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:61:y:2005:i:6:p:1201-1210. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.