Dignity of Risk, Reemergent Agency, and the Central Thalamic Stimulation Trial for Moderate to Severe Brain Injury. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • This article discusses the utility of Perske's "dignity of risk" as a useful heuristic to explain the consent process for a study to evaluate central thalamic deep brain stimulation as a means to restore cognitive function in moderate to severe brain injury. Narratives of interviews with subjects and their families from a related BRAIN Initiative study reveal discordant views on risk, with subjects being more risk-tolerant than their loved ones. This is a challenge for families who remain protective of subjects who have recovered to the point that they are capable of independent decision-making. While the legal threshold for consent has been met, normative and psychological challenges remain as families accommodate themselves to the reemergent agency of the subject. Dignity of risk is a constructive framework to apprehend how families come to appreciate the primacy of the subject's voice and affirm their reemergent agency following a devastating brain injury.

publication date

  • January 1, 2022

Research

keywords

  • Brain Injuries
  • Deep Brain Stimulation
  • Voice

Identity

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 85135547704

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1353/pbm.2022.0026

PubMed ID

  • 35938438

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 65

issue

  • 2