Evaluation

• CW was repeatedly tested over 21 years, which may have caused him psychological distress


  CW was given neuropsychological tests on many occasions over the 21 years of the study. Although CW would have been unable to remember these tests, it was argued unethical to use him repeatedly. Although he could provide consent the extent of his brain damage may not have truly understood what they were planning to do and how often.
• The tests that Wilson et al., describe were not designed to actually help CW or to find ways to help him


  they were simply used to repeatedly test his memory ability to gain a better understanding of retrograde and anterograde amnesia. CW did not gain anything from taking part in this research.
• CW was irritated at having his belief in his own consciousness questions


  this caused some psychological harm at those brief moments. It can be argued that it is unethical to cause him irritation even in those short moments.
• Confidentiality was not maintained


  although he was referred to as CW, they do identify him using his full name and give enough personal background details to make it very clear who CW actually is – his identity was not kept private.
• It is hard to generalise the results to other people because of the extent of the damage to his brain


  CW case is unusual, the extent of the damage has made it difficult to pin-point how exact brain areas which were damaged are linked to his retrograde and anterograde amnesia. Wilson’s patient David had similar brain damage to CW however he did not report thinking that he had just woken up or had not been conscious before. Therefore the results of this signal case study are not generalisable to the wider population or understanding how memory works.