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Introduction
Part I: Conducting Research With and About Older Persons: Ethical and Legal Issues and Implications

1. Ethical Issues in Informed Consent in the Conduct of Research with Aging Persons, S. Loue
2. Decisional Capacity and Consent for Research in the Cognitively Impaired Older Adult, W.S. Davis and J.D. Moreno
3. The Search for a Coherent Language: The Science and Politics of Drug Testing and Approval, J. Karlawish
4. Ethical and Legal Considerations in Health Services Research, L. Curry
5. Regulating Research for the Decisionally Impaired: Implications for Mental Health Professionals, M.B. Kapp

Part II: Independent Articles

6. Ethical Complexities of Aggressive Surgical Interventions in the Very Old, E.G. DeRenzo and S. Rizk
7. From Elder Guardianship to Long-Term Legal Care, I. Doron
8. The Circle of Life: Respecting Patientsí Preferences Near the End of Life?, L. Sevick

Book Reviews
Literature Abstract
Annotated Bibliography
Books Received

Perplexing ethical questions emerge when conducting research involving older adult participants. Fundamental ethical concerns often grappled with include the ability to obtain truly voluntary and competent informed consent, the proper role of surrogate decision making in the research context, and the equitable selection of research subjects.

This volume brings to the forefront a discussion of how to encourage essential research specifically designed to benefit older persons while protecting the legal and ethical rights of actual and potential older research participants.

Highly qualified and diverse contributors analyze and explain some of the most salient and legal conundrums implicated in the design, conduct, interpretation, and application of research protocols that touch on these problems of aging and the aged.