Medical experiments: human subjects.

Existing law regulates the conduct of medical experiments on human subjects and requires informed consent prior to conducting medical experiments on human subjects. Existing law, until January 1, 2014, exempts from this requirement a medical experimental treatment that benefits a patient subject to a life-threatening emergency if specified conditions are met, including that the patient is in a life-threatening situation necessitating urgent intervention and available treatments are unproven or unsatisfactory and informed consent cannot be obtained before treatment must be administered. This bill would continue the exemption for life-threatening emergencies indefinitely and would add conditions for the use of medical experimental treatment, including that the institutional review board has reviewed and approved the informed consent procedures and these procedures are to be used with subjects or their legally authorized representatives in situations where use of the procedures and documents is feasible and that specified additional protections of the rights and welfare of the subjects will be provided.