Since the issues of deciding what to do with the data from withdrawn participants was not defined when developing research protocols, the investigator does not feel obliged to develop a new policy after the fact.

The principal investigator is focused more on the scientific endeavor rather than ethical concerns, and determines to use the available data to answer new research questions.

These are some possible outcomes:

The principal investigator is more concerned with the agreement that the parents of the participants signed regarding confidentiality than with the future possibility of identifying these infants in case a treatment or cure could be found for their ailments.

The principal investigator had not previously considered the negative consequences of discarding the data, yet after some consideration, decides not to mention this to the parents of the participants.

The principal investigator had not previously considered the negative consequences of discarding the data, yet after some consideration, decides to contact the parents informing them of ……..