Vulnerable Populations

A state health agency has asked Dr. Maggiano to assist in setting up a database to monitor health risk behaviors among pregnant women, with a special emphasis to include data from low-income pregnant women. When the Tribal Council refuses to give the study access to the data of three reservation clinics, the director of the state health agency wants to develop incentives to attract Native American women to off-reservation clinics. Do federal guidelines allow researchers to circumvent the refusal of the tribal council in this way?