file.newsgroup.med.59566 Maven / Gradle / Ivy
From: [email protected]
Subject: Legality of placebos?
How is it that placebos are legal? It would seem to me that if, as a patient,
you purchase a drug you've been prescribed and it's just sugar (or whatever),
there's a few legal complications that arise:
1.
If you have been diagnosed with a condition and you aren't given accepted
treatment for it, it seems like intentional medical malpractice.
2.
A placebo should fall, legally, under the label of quackery (why not?)
3.
Getting what you pay for. (Deceptive "bait and switch" to an extreme...). False
advertising (what if McDonalds didn't put 100% pure beef in their hamburgers?)
So I'm mystified. Are these assumptions erred? If they aren't, why the
hell can a doctor knowingly or unknowingly prescribe a placebo?
Thanks
calzone