Its disturbing that so many do not find it unethical to prescribe placebos.......
I believe that it is ethical, and that it is predominately what alternative medicine is. It is a framework that can be used to maximize the placebo effect in patients, specifically important in the treatment of subjective illnesses such as emotions, fatigue, and pain. Here is a quick survey of doctors (http://www.bmj.com/content/337/bmj.a1938) 63% of who believe it is ethically permissible to treat with a placebo, and about half of which prescribe them regularly.
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Obviously Im biased, even though I try to have a clear open mind to all sides. Make no mistake about it, a homeopathic remedy is nothing. It is just water or a sugar pill. There is 100% absolutely guaranteed no active physical, chemical, mystical, or blah blah blah in it at all. It is a placebo and I have no problem with a regulated health care practitioner using the homeopathic intake method as a way of improving patient outcome if they so choose to do so. Ive been given any manner of mood altering drugs, and you know what always helped more than any of them (once I was stabilized enough)? Talking to someone who had my best interest at heart and the time to listen in a relaxing environment (massage, acupuncture, and counseling; placebos the lot of them).
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Your reasoning goes like - if those accupuncture and homeopathic quacks can get away with it, why can't we, the real deal doctors do it too?
Maybe homeopathy is not just plain 'nothing' water but also time taken to have a decent conversation with the patient to get to the nature of some ailment which might lead to a lifestyle adjustment.
But conventional medicine allows very little time per patient and doctors even need to find some way to prescribe 'something' otherwise the session might not be billable, which I gather is a sore point among doctors leading to placebo treatments.