The continuing unethical use of placebo controls
KJ Rothman, KB Michels - New England Journal of Medicine, 1994 - Mass Medical Soc
KJ Rothman, KB Michels
New England Journal of Medicine, 1994•Mass Medical SocIs it ethical to use a placebo? The answer to this question will depend, I suggest, upon
whether there is already available an orthodox treatment of proved or accepted value. If
there is such an orthodox treatment the question will hardly arise, for the doctor will wish to
know whether a new treatment is more, or less, effective than the old, not that it is more
effective than nothing.--A. Bradford Hill1 Unaccountably, in these times of raised ethical
consciousness, placebo treatments are still commonly used in medical research in …
whether there is already available an orthodox treatment of proved or accepted value. If
there is such an orthodox treatment the question will hardly arise, for the doctor will wish to
know whether a new treatment is more, or less, effective than the old, not that it is more
effective than nothing.--A. Bradford Hill1 Unaccountably, in these times of raised ethical
consciousness, placebo treatments are still commonly used in medical research in …
Is it ethical to use a placebo? The answer to this question will depend, I suggest, upon whether there is already available an orthodox treatment of proved or accepted value. If there is such an orthodox treatment the question will hardly arise, for the doctor will wish to know whether a new treatment is more, or less, effective than the old, not that it is more effective than nothing.
-- A. Bradford Hill1
Unaccountably, in these times of raised ethical consciousness, placebo treatments are still commonly used in medical research in circumstances in which their use is unethical. We refer . . .