Adam J. Kolber (University of San Diego School of Law) has posted Therapeutic Deception: When a Spoonful of Sugar is the Medicine on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
Few medical treatments help as many people as cheaply and as safely as mere sugar pills. To use such placebos most effectively, however, doctors must deceive patients as to the nature of their treatment. While placebo deception is surprisingly common, its legality has rarely been tested. In November 2006, the American Medical Association (“AMA”) adopted a new ethics provision categorically prohibiting doctors from using placebos deceptively. In so doing, the AMA shifted the legal landscape, making it almost certain that courts will decide that placebo deception violates informed consent requirements.
I argue that the AMA's new policy is overbroad, insensitive to patient preferences, and likely to have unforeseen consequences. Rather, deceptive placebos should be treated as scarce medical resources - used sparingly but not categorically prohibited. While deception is often exploitative, therapeutic deception benefits the deceived and should not be prohibited by broad-brushed regulation.
I always learn from Kolber's work.
