Friday, October 24, 2008

Placebos aren't free either....

Half of doctors in the US in a survey said they regularly give patients placebo treatments. By placebo, they mean drugs or vitamins that won't really help the condition. Most of the doctors who did this never let their patients know what was going on - even after the fact and most doctors felt that this is ethical behaviour.

I have always believed that we have the power to heal ourselves in many circumstances and when placebo treatments are successful, this is actually a good thing - I am very much against unnecessary drug use. But the patient has a right to know, once treatment is over, that they got better on their own - that it wasn't a drug that helped them. I also feel that once you've been told by your doctor that a placebo was prescribed to you - and it worked - you should get your money back for the prescription's cost too.

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