Profili bioetici dell’utilizzo del placebo in medicina

Autori

  • Pasquale Giustiniani Docente di Bioetica, Facoltà di Giurisprudenza della Seconda Università degli Studi di Napoli

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7175/pmeal.v2i1.383

Parole chiave:

Bioethics, Placebo, Pain medicine, Malpractice

Abstract

Placebo is defined as an inert substance or inactive treatment. It is usually used in clinical trials as a control and its effect is so significant that the “gold standard” of research design is the double-blind, placebo-controlled study. The question thus arises whether placebos should be used therapeutically. In the proposed case, the deceptive use of placebo on a teenager in USA allowed his mother to bring to court a doctor and three nurses for malpractice. This paper, from the bioethics point of view, discusses the clinical and ethical perspectives of the placebo use in clinical practice.

##submission.downloads##

Pubblicato

2008-02-15

Fascicolo

Sezione

Articolo