Starting next month, if you have a seizure requiring emergency treatment, you could be enrolled in a research trial without your permission.

While subjects in most medical studies must sign lengthy forms to participate, unconscious, convulsing patients can’t give consent. So paramedics will enroll seizure victims in the new study automatically, unless they’re wearing a red “opt-out” bracelet.

The unusual approach has been carefully reviewed by medical and ethics experts, and researchers say most people at high-risk for seizures have been supportive.

Stanford and the University of California-San Francisco are two of 17 research centers nationwide that will be studying the best way to give anti-seizure medications. Patients being transported to hospitals in Santa Clara, San Mateo and San Francisco counties will be subject to the new study.

It’s the only way to learn about life-saving treatments in an emergency, said Dr. James Quinn, associate professor of emergency medicine at Stanford and a lead researcher on the Rapid Anticonvulsant Medication Prior to Arrival Trial (RAMPART). (more…)