Often the risk of harm or injury is so minimal it is not considered by the researcher or patient. At other times, the risk of harm may be more serious. The patient may accept or reject the more serious risk comparing it with other goods of life as mentioned before. However, even though risks are included in the protocol, the protocol for clinical research should never involve a therapy which of itself offers less than standard treatment. Even if a double blind protocol is employed, the patients in the control group, the group that does not receive the drug or therapy being evaluated, should receive a drug or therapy which meets the norms for standard treatment.
Nontherapeutic research has an entirely different purpose.
While therapeutic research or clinical research aims at preserving or restoring the health of the individual participants in the research program, nontherapeutic research aims at obtaining knowledge which will be utilized for the health of people in the future. The ethical norms for nontherapeutic research do allow a subject to accept a risk of harm. But in these cases, the subject should be informed clearly that the research protocol is nontherapeutic. Subjecting oneself to serious harm in a nontherapeutic research project is an act of altruism and self-giving. While a proxy may give consent in order to benefit a ward, the proxy does not have the right to place a ward at risk on the grounds of altruism or self abnegation.