Half of U.S. doctors often prescribe placebos

LONDON - About half of American doctors in a new survey say they regularly give patients placebo treatments — usually drugs or vitamins that won't really help their condition.

And many of these doctors are not honest with their patients about what they are doing, the survey found.

That contradicts advice from the American Medical Association, which recommends doctors use treatments with the full knowledge of their patients.

It's a disturbing finding," said Franklin G. Miller, director of the research ethics program at the U.S. National Institutes Health and one of the study authors. "There is an element of deception here which is contrary to the principle of informed consent."

The study was being published online in Friday's issue of BMJ, formerly the British Medical Journal.

Placebos as defined in the survey went beyond the typical sugar pill commonly used in medical studies. A placebo was any treatment that wouldn't necessarily help the patient.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27342269/

There have been some great studies in first world countries where doctors have gone on strike (e.g. France and Israel). What happens is the death rate consistently goes DOWN during such strikes.

Of course, if you get hit by a bus, you want a doctor, but for most documented doctor visits, they are unnecessary and even potentially harmful.

Cut out the middle man, I say.

Does that have whiskey in it, because whiskey makes me :puke:

You sit in a chair for 30 seconds taking you pulse, then you burn $200 with a lighter, and then you try really hard to believe it was medicine and the money was "worth it".

I think the other half are lying.

wouldn't that negate the placebo effect? Jus' sayin'.

they want a drug for everything, even if what they really need is not a drug. Nurses spend 90% of their time dispensing drugs. We are pharmaceutical dispensing machines for the profit of big pharma.

They are cheaper there.

So off label prescriptions are a placebo?

David

"we thought the patient was dying, so we stopped all her meds, then she got better"
Me: that was 6 months ago? what does that tell you?
"<silence>"

...we're over drugged as it is in this country.

.

When he has a patient who's a hypochondriac or who has shown to do well with placebos before, he suggests homeopathic meds or supplements that he knows won't interfere with what they're taking. He personally doesn't believe in homeopathy at all, but he's had a lot of patients get better when they use it, so he frames it like that.

Heck, I had a placebo work great on me during labor. The mind is a powerful thing, so why not use it to get better?

He just says that he's had patients do well with homeopathy and that they should look into it. Same with other supplements that are safe or don't interfere with what they're already taking.

Placebos are sugar pills or similar treatments that trick the mind into thinking that they're working so that the body gets better. What are they calling placebos?

That's why I have a problem with this poll.

David

Antibiotics aren't placebos when they're used properly, and anyone who thinks sedatives and painkillers are placebos shouldn't practice medicine. Hubby's gotten a few patients from one of the other internists in town after she's told them that she won't prescribe painkillers for any reason ever. One of the patients had just had a hip replacement. The doctor told her to take aspirin. Hubby was furious and made sure to find the right painkiller for that patient and ended up changing a few of her meds because they were wrong for her.

placebos in fact are NOT shown to work except very briefly in very limited circumstance

i think we need more than the assertion "my husband says" -- we need scientific proof that lies do good isntead of harm

the real "good" that placebos do is protect the doctor from having to have a frank, honest discussion w. a patient that he doesn't respect (thinks is hysterical or stupid or what have you -- as you say, a hypochondriac)

this may be nice for doctor but is it really in the patient's long term interest?

if placebos really worked there would be no such as drug addiction, chronic pain, or a host of other intractable disorders

If a patient takes an herbal supplement and tells her doctor that it's working, even if the doctor isn't so sure about that, is the doctor supposed to tell the patient that she's just fooling herself and needs to take the strong meds instead?

As a person who's lived with chronic pain and long-term health problems, I've had that exact situation happen to me. My doctor and I go back and forth on which supplements are most likely helping and which ones are probably just a placebo, but I feel better on them. It's been longer than three months, too, but maybe they're not placebos then?

Drug addiction, chronic pain, fibromyalgia--these are all very real. The doctors I know respect their patients who have them and do everything they can to help. I never said that placebos can replace any and all meds, just that they can work and actually help people.

In many instances, it can be HUGE. Legalize pot!

I'm voting for Prop 1 in Michigan. People going through chemo should be able to get the best anti-nausea drug out there.

Because...lying is wrong. And doctors need to do their fucking jobs.

Holy shit.

When my doctor used a cream on me during labor, I thought it worked well enough to feel the pain dramatically lessen so I could get on with the job of pushing our daughter out. He told me the next day that there was no way the emla cream worked that fast and that he could've put toothpaste on me for all the difference in how they would've worked. I could've sworn it worked, though, and it got me through that worst part of the pain to get our daughter out safely and in good time.

Now, if a doctor's prescribing another medication that has side effects and all that and costs good money, that's lying, and that's wrong. If you need a beta blocker, and he prescribes an antidepressant, say, that's malpractice as far as I'm concerned. If you need a beta blocker and he prescribes one and then says you should try capsacin for your heart issues, I'm okay with that. Some studies say it works, and if you think it works because your doctor thinks it works and then it works, that's all good.

of hypochondriacs. I marvel at how many people out there are just that.

Julie

Warning: Placebo may cause drowsiness, impaired judgment, erratic behavior and high blood pressure. Other less frequent symptoms include: uncontrolled flatulence, priapism and death.

Placebrex, Placebra, Placebolol. The med students that year had a lot of fun messing with the name.

Best medical humor is here: http://www.placebojournal.com/default.asp

:grr:

If the docs called BS on their patients the patients would just find another doctor who will give in to their demands for unnecessary medication.