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bananas

(27,509 posts)
Fri Mar 22, 2013, 06:17 AM Mar 2013

Survey finds 97% of GPs prescribe placebos

http://www.nhs.uk/news/2013/03March/Pages/97-percent-of-GPs-admit-prescribing-placebos.aspx

Survey finds 97% of GPs prescribe placebos

"Most family doctors have given a placebo to at least one of their patients," BBC News reports.

The news is based on a large survey of UK GPs. For the purpose of the study, placebos were put into one of two categories:
pure placebos – treatments containing no active ingredients, such as sugar pills
impure placebos – treatments that contain active ingredients but are not recommended for the condition being treated, such as antibiotics for flu

The survey found that 97% of doctors admitted to giving an impure placebo at some point during their career, while 10% had given pure placebos.

The survey found that more than 1% of GPs used pure placebos at least once a week, and more than three-quarters (77%) used impure placebos at least once a week. Most doctors said placebos were ethical in some circumstances.

<snip>


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21834440

20 March 2013 Last updated at 22:05 ET
'Most family doctors' have given a patient a placebo drug
Comments (445)
By Michelle Roberts
Health editor, BBC News online

Most family doctors have given a placebo to at least one of their patients, survey findings suggest.

In a poll, 97% of 783 GPs admitted that they had recommended a sugar pill or a treatment with no established efficacy for the ailment their patient came in with.

The PLOS One study authors say this may not be a bad thing - doctors are doing it to help, not to deceive patients.

The Royal College of GPs says there is a place for placebos in medicine.

<snip>


The study is at http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0058247
"Placebo Use in the United Kingdom: Results from a National Survey of Primary Care Practitioners"

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Survey finds 97% of GPs prescribe placebos (Original Post) bananas Mar 2013 OP
I'm not going to judge. Placebos often work! Quantess Mar 2013 #1
Then let people get them over the counter customerserviceguy Mar 2013 #2
That's not how placebos work Xipe Totec Mar 2013 #3
Many years ago Ednahilda Mar 2013 #4

customerserviceguy

(25,183 posts)
2. Then let people get them over the counter
Fri Mar 22, 2013, 07:23 AM
Mar 2013

at the health food or vitamin store. Sometimes a doctor needs to be able to say, "Stop wasting my time with your hypochondria." Giving placebos just rewards the behavior.

Ednahilda

(195 posts)
4. Many years ago
Fri Mar 22, 2013, 09:30 AM
Mar 2013

when I was in high school, I worked part-time at a family pharmacy. One of the jobs I occasionally did was to fill empty capsules with powdered sugar for the local nursing home, and I understood that this was a regular part of the pharmacy's service to the home. These were dispensed in regular, amber-colored pharmacy bottles and had official labels for each patient who got them, although I'm sorry I never looked to see what "drug" was listed on the front of the label.

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