Placebo pills and treatments are nothing new in America. These treatments are often given to have a calming psychological effect on the patient. It might be sugar pills given to give the illusion to the patient that he /she is being treated. In a recent survey it was found that placebo treatment does no always involve inactive treatment.
Dr. Farr A. Curlin, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago, who was part of the survey says “Most people when they say ‘placebo’ think of something like a sugar pill, But doctors can use a treatment that may have some effects but that they think will not have a direct effect on the patient except by the placebo effect.”
Placebo pills are generally presumed to be harmless and the miracle is often wrought by the fact that the patient is convinced something is done for their benefit. It is the “optimism or confidence that something is being done,” as Curlin phrased it.
3 percent doctors prescribed sugar pills, 38 percent used harmless vitamins and as large as 41 percent used over the counter painkillers. Some doctors, about 13 percent used antibiotics
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In fact it was found that most doctors were wary of calling this a placebo treatment. Most said that it was a potentially beneficial treatment. Two thirds admitted that it is beneficial
“It’s a gray zone,” Curlin said. “It is not ethical to actively deceive patients. But when doctors give something which they think will help but don’t think it helpful to explain the full reasoning about why it will help, that’s a gray zone.”
Curlin added. “The placebo effect is a real effect,” he said. “People do feel better. To the extent that it can be mobilized in a way that is restful and not actively deceiving patients, I think it is acceptable.”
The argument about the ethics of placebo treatment can also be turned around, he added. “There are ways to present placebo treatment that do not involve deception,” he said. “You are doing it because it can help a patient, and a certain percentage of patients will respond. Especially in conditions where we do not have a lot of treatments, is it ethical to withhold it?”
