Placebos

The science news of the day is that nearly half of the practicing doctors today prescribe placebos to their patients at some time. A placebo is a medicine that medical science believes has no curative powers for the symptoms or disease involved. Common placebos are sugar pills, or saline solution injections. Also common are prescriptions for common pain killers in complex symptom sets such as fibromyalgia. The doctors prescribe these medications, knowing that according to their science of medicine there is no reason for the treatment to work. Yet, according to the New York Times (October 22, 2008), “Some 30 percent to 40 percent of depressed patients who are given placebos get better, a treatment effect that antidepressants barely top. Placebos have also proved effective against hypertension.”

There is significant controversy in the medical community as to the ethics involved in prescribing placebos to patients. Continue reading “Placebos”