Your rights · reviewed 2026-08-17
Informed consent in clinical trials
What informed consent is supposed to cover, that you can leave a study, and that a website rewrite is not a consent form.
Consent is a process, not a signature only
US regulations require that people who enroll in interventional research get information about purposes, procedures, risks, possible benefits (which may be none to you), alternatives, confidentiality, and who to contact. You should have time to ask questions. A coordinator walking through a form is normal; pressure to sign the same day is a reason to pause.
You can decline or withdraw
Choosing not to join does not take away standard care you are otherwise entitled to. If you enroll, you can withdraw. There may be a safe-exit visit (for example to stop a study drug). Ask how withdrawal works before you start.
What PlainTrials is not
Our pages are not consent documents, IRB-approved materials, or a substitute for the discussion with the investigator. If a sentence on this site is easier to read than the consent form, still use the consent form as the legal and ethical record of what you were told.