Ethics: It couldn't hurt... (recommending homeopathy)

[TimmyMax]

Hey,

 

Actually, I think what Lucy might have been suggesting was that sometimes patients request antibiotics for viruses (stupid patients). And sometimes physicians, probably just to shut them up, prescribe them, because it's easier than constantly disagreeing with a patient. Is this right?

Heh, heh, heh, so true! Especially on the paediatric emergency service with parents that are extremely pushy (ie: have brought their 2-year-old with a cough back for the third time in the last 16 hours despite there being nothing to find on two different physical examinations).

Sometimes it's just easier to give in and live to fight another day than argue with someone who is hell-bent on obtaining antibiotics because their dog has started barking again and the last time that person's dog was barking like that, the patient turned out to have pneumonia and had to go to the ER (where, ironically, she was told she had a head cold and was ultimately sent home without antibiotics).

[eise]

Yeah, but you aren't prescribing a placebo.

You are telling your patient about a possible alternative, and informing them that it might not work... the drawbacks, and the benefits. It might work, but it might just be a placebo effect... it's not definitely a placebo effect, but the psychological idea that it is working certainly would not hurt.

 

I was merely answering Smurfette's question about whether placebos are ethical. But I do agree with you that alternative therapies may or may not result in a placebo effect.