Been thinking about this for no particular reason, specifically like sugar pills. Do doctors just prescribe you a medication but they’re actually lying to you? Is that legal? Or are you made aware they’re placebos and they still work? Is that possible? Are they only for people who have a legal guardian that can keep the secret? I feel like it should be obvious but I really don’t know.
(also sorry if flair is wrong, i don’t really know where medicine would fall here)
In: Chemistry
When I first started working in medicine, we could write for “obecalp” and in the directions write 1-2 every 6 hours as needed for [insert condition]. The pharmacist knew to talk up the sugar pill, and it usually worked. A short while later, a study was released showing about 30% of patients reported improvement in whatever condition was being treated. Not long after that, it was decided that it was unethical to write for a “fake” medication, so the practice was banned.
What they failed to realize is that not all patient complaints require an active ingredient type of medication. Just getting someone to believe they were going to feel better often did exactly that.
It is a form of medicine that has its benefits and “did no harm.” Many of today’s medication side effects are sometimes worse than the condition being treated.
I get (and agree) that we shouldn’t ‘lie’ to our patients. But not everything needs to be cured with a pill. Unfortunately, that is the way society and modern medicine now see things.
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