Uncomfortable implications: placebo equivalence in drug management of a functional illness

Journal of Medical Ethics 33 (11):635-638 (2007)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Using a fictional but representative general practice consultation, involving the diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome in a patient who is anxious for some relief from the discomfort his condition entails, this paper argues that when both a drug fails to out-perform placebo and the condition in question is a functional illness with no demonstrable underlying pathology, then the action of the drug is not only no better than placebo, and it is also no different from it either. The paper also argues that, in the circumstances of the consultation described, it is striking that current governance deems it ethical for a practitioner to prescribe either a drug or a placebo, both of which appear to rely for their effectiveness on a measure of concealment on the part of the doctor, yet deems it unethical for a practitioner openly to prescribe a harmless and enjoyable substance which is likely to be no less effective than either drug or placebo and is also likely to be better-tolerated and cheaper than the drug

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 101,880

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Justified deception? The single blind placebo in drug research.M. Evans - 2000 - Journal of Medical Ethics 26 (3):188-193.
The Placebo Effect and Its Implications.Dawson Hedges & Colin Burchfield - 2005 - Journal of Mind and Behavior 26 (3):161-180.
The concept of placebo.Professor Zbigniew Szawarski - 2004 - Science and Engineering Ethics 10 (1):57-64.
The concept of placebo.Zbigniew Szawarski - 2004 - Science and Engineering Ethics 10 (1):57-64.
Single blind placebo in drug research.Peter Beck - 2000 - Journal of Medical Ethics 26 (6):477-a-477.
Open-Label Placebo: Reflections on a Research Agenda.Ted J. Kaptchuk - 2018 - Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 61 (3):311-334.

Analytics

Added to PP
2010-08-24

Downloads
51 (#433,190)

6 months
22 (#139,170)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

“Comparable Placebo Treatment” and the Ethics of Deception.Shlomo Cohen & Haim Shapiro - 2013 - Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 38 (6):696-709.
The ethics of the placebo in clinical practice revisited.P. Louhiala - 2009 - Journal of Medical Ethics 35 (7):407-409.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references