Court Opinion

ID: 9763828
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 02:56:50.145291+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:49.930129
License: Public Domain

RAKER, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent from the order denying the motions for reconsideration. I adhere to the views previously expressed in my concurring opinion filed herein on August 16, 2001.
The majority’s discussion of the ability of a parent or guardian to consent to the participation of a minor child in a nontherapeutic research study and the discussion regarding the ethics of the research conducted in these cases involve serious public policy considerations. The statements are a declaration of public policy that, in the posture of this case, are best left to the General Assembly. See Gaver v. Harrant, 316 Md. 17, 28-29, 557 A.2d 210, 217 (1989); Harrison v. Mont. Co. Bd of Educ., 295 Md. 442, 460, 456 A.2d 894, 903 (1983). Inasmuch as these issues were never raised by the pleadings or the parties below, this Court had no basis to address these very complex issues; if a change is to be made in the State’s policy of regulating research studies, unless clearly presented to the court, it should be made by legislative *121enactment. See Md. Nat'l Bk. v. United Jewish App., 286 Md. 274, 407 A.2d 1130 (1979). This matter merits the close scrutiny of the General Assembly. See Cotharn and Maldonado v. Board, 260 Md. 556, 273 A.2d 115 (1971).