IRB Policy 17.13, Legally Authorized Representatives, has been updated and the new version is available on the IRB’s website.
The most notable change in the revised policy is the expansion of who can serve as the legally authorized representative and therefore provide consent for participation in research that does not involve healthcare. We anticipate this change will simplify matters for researchers working on projects involving patients incapacitated by Covid-19 in the short term, and will also facilitate other non-healthcare research projects involving participants unable to provide their own consent.
Huge debt of gratitude to Nathan Chaney in Research Legal for helping us with this revision.