ICOI: Consent Law, Disability Rights & Research Inclusion with Krista James

In this session, Krista James will discuss consent law in Canada and explore best practices in consent to participate in research on older adults. A willing participant, for instance, an older person living with disabilities, including dementia, may face challenges in understanding information relevant to providing consent or bias regarding their ability to understand information. In such cases, University’s research ethics boards prefer substituting consent by younger family members, but substitute consent is not always possible under provincial or territorial laws. The session will discuss some of these legal, ethical and moral dilemmas in research on old adults and present some practical solutions that may help alleviate these issues.

Krista James is a lawyer and National Director of the Canadian Centre for Elder Law. Her work explores legal and policy issues related to aging, including legal research, policy analysis, and public legal education. She has written on topics such as abuse and neglect of older people, mental capacity, and health care consent. She has a particular interest in how aging, gender and other aspects of identity intersect to impact experience. You can find her writing at www.bcli.org/ccel and on Twitter at @KristaElan.