Clinical Use of Placebos: Still the Physician's Prerogative?

Hastings Center Report 42 (3):29-37 (2012)
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Abstract

The American Medical Association's Code of Ethics prohibits physicians from giving substances they believe are placebos to their patients unless the patient is informed of and agrees to use of the substance. Various questions surround the AMA policy, however. One of these has to do with what should be disclosed. The AMA holds that any treatment that the physician believes is a placebo should be identified as such to the patient. But consider a more restrictive policy that requires physicians to defer to the medical community's consensus view about which treatments have a specific effect on the condition being treated. In light of the ethical goals that the AMA identifies—namely, concerns about patient trust, autonomy, and benefit—there are potential advantages to the more restrictive policy.

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References found in this work

The Silent World of Doctor and Patient.Daniel Callahan & Jay Katz - 1984 - Hastings Center Report 14 (6):47.
A Duty to Deceive: Placebos in Clinical Practice.Bennett Foddy - 2009 - American Journal of Bioethics 9 (12):4-12.
The ethics of the placebo in clinical practice.P. Lichtenberg - 2004 - Journal of Medical Ethics 30 (6):551-554.
Paternalism and partial autonomy.O. O'Neill - 1984 - Journal of Medical Ethics 10 (4):173-178.

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