Which ethical issue is highlighted by a historical study in which hospitalized patients were told they were participating in research but were not informed about receiving injections of live cancer cells?

• A. Deception about the intervention
• B. Inadequate sample size
• C. Absence of informed consent to participate
• D. Lack of Institutional Review Board oversight

Answer: (A)

This question hinges on deception in research and how it undermines informed consent. Here, hospitalized patients were told they were participating in research, but crucial information about what would actually be done to them—receiving injections of live cancer cells—was hidden. That means participants could not make a truly informed decision about risk and benefit because they weren’t told the nature of the intervention they were receiving. The core ethical problem isn’t whether consent was obtained in some form, but whether the information needed to make a voluntary choice was truthfully disclosed. Deception about the intervention directly violates respect for persons and trust in the research enterprise, making the consent that was given invalid as truly informed.

This isn’t primarily about the study’s sample size, which is a methodological concern, nor is it solely about lack of IRB oversight. It also isn’t simply that participants weren’t asked to participate at all; they were told they were in a study, but the specific intervention was concealed, which is why deception about the intervention is the best fit.