Some NYC Council Members Urge Thorough Investigation of Policies Involving HIV-Positive Foster Children in Clinical Trials
Some New York City Council members at a meeting on Thursday urged the city's Administration for Children's Services to conduct a "thorough investigation" into policies that permitted HIV-positive foster children to participate in clinical trials from 1988 to 2001, the AP/Albany Times Union reports (Hajela, AP/Albany Times Union, 5/6). ACS last month hired the independent not-for-profit research firm Vera Institute of Justice to review research involving about 465 HIV-positive foster children to see whether the agency had the necessary permission to include the children in the trials, if the children met the studies' medical criteria and if the enrollments were appropriate given the medical knowledge at the time. ACS requires parental consent for children to be involved in medical studies. If a parent cannot be located, the decision is made by the ACS commissioner and the agency's medical and legal divisions. An ACS internal review of the trials found no evidence that the agency acted wrongly in conducting the trials, according to ACS Commissioner John Mattingly, who was not in office when the trials were conducted (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 4/25). However, advocates were assigned to only 142 of the 465 children, even though New York foster agencies required research institutions to sign documents promising to appoint advocates for children involved in HIV/AIDS research, according to a review of the studies conducted by the Associated Press (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 5/5).
This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.