Half of all U.S. doctors prescribe placebos
Half of all U.S. doctors prescribe placebos
Millions of Americans may be unaware that they’re participating in a “placebo controlled” trial of sorts.
In a survey of nearly 680 randomly selected internists and rheumatologists across the U.S., about half said they regularly recommended placebos to their patients.
HALF!
In most cases, doctors didn’t prescribe inert “sugar pills.” Mild pain relievers, sedatives, and even vitamin supplements were most commonly used in cases where other drugs had failed to address conditions such as insomnia and fibromyalgia.
Of course, this report sets off all sorts of ethical alarm bells. The AMA doesn’t condone placebo use, noting that trust in the medical profession is undermined when patients are misled. But if a placebo makes a patient feel better when nothing else works, isn’t it unethical to withhold such “treatment”?
Weirdly, 5 percent of the doctors surveyed sidestepped the ethical question by telling their patients that the treatment they were being given was a placebo. Which would suggest that 5 percent of doctors aren’t quite clear on how the placebo effect works!
But here’s the troubling wrinkle in this report: Some doctors actually prescribed antibiotics when they were fully aware that antibiotics would have no effect – contributing to their patients’ antibiotic resistance.
That’s not a placebo, that’s just stupid.
Source:
“Half of Doctors Routinely Prescribe Placebos” Gardiner Harris, New York Times, 10/24/08, nytimes.com
