Final answer:
A clinical or hospital autopsy requires family consent, especially when the deceased is not involved in a legal investigation. Current ethical standards emphasize the necessity of informed consent, drawing lessons from historical cases such as Henrietta Lacks, where consent was not obtained for the use of her tissues for research.
Step-by-step explanation:
The type of autopsy that requires family consent is a clinical or hospital autopsy. These types of autopsies are typically performed to understand the causes of death when the death is not subject to a legal investigation. They can provide valuable information for the deceased's family, potentially uncovering genetic conditions or helping to understand the progression of a disease. Parents can provide consent on behalf of their children, as legally, children cannot provide consent themselves.
While discussing the ethical considerations, it is imperative to mention the case of Henrietta Lacks, whose cells were taken without consent and used extensively in scientific research. At that time, there were no clear guidelines on informed consent, but by today's standards, such practices are considered unethical and illegal.
Similarly, in research that involves living subjects, informed consent must be obtained. Researchers must be transparent about their motives and must ensure the privacy and the rights of the subjects involved in their studies, especially when the subjects are contributing to potentially stressful or harmful data collection.