Half of doctors give placebos?

Gardiner Harris writes in the New York Times that half of American doctors in a national survey claim to regularly prescribe placebos to patients. The study involved 679 internists and rheumatologists, rather than a cross-section of all specialties The most common placebos were headache pills and were headache pills and vitamins, but a “significant number” reported prescribing antibiotics and sedatives.

The problem, apparently, is patients who need psychic, not physical, help. Even if patients get the mental relief they need, the practice of treating patients in a deceptive manner is ethically fraught and, if discovered, legally, problematic. The American Medical Association (AMA) has discouraged placebos based on their violation of the trust that inheres in the patient-physician relationship. Providers would be well advised to avoid misrepresenting medications or misleading patients, even when they it’s intended for the patient’s own good.