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The use of the placebo effect in clinical medicine — ethical blunder or ethical imperative?

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Abstract

The current debate in medical ethics on placebos focuses mainly on their use in health research. Whereas this is certainly an important topic the discussion tends to overlook another longstanding but nevertheless highly relevant question, namely if and how the placebo effect should be employed in clinical practice. This paper describes the way the placebo effect is perceived in modern medicine and offers some historical reflections on how these perceptions have developed; discusses elements of a definition of the placebo effect; and suggests some conditions under which making use of the therapeutic potential of the placebo effect can be ethically acceptable, if not warranted.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Abt. für Ethik und Geschichte der Medizin, Universität Göttingen, Humboldtallee 36, 37073, Göttingen, Germany

    Nikola Biller-Andorno

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Correspondence to Nikola Biller-Andorno.

Additional information

An earlier version of this paper was presented at an international conference, “Placebo: Its Action and Place in Health Research Today,” held in Warsaw, Poland on 12–13 April, 2003.

Nikola Biller-Andorno, MD, PhD, is Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine, University of Goettingen, Germany. Dr. Biller-Andorno also serves as an ethicist for the World Health Organization (WHO). This paper does not necessarily reflect the views of the World Health Organization.

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Biller-Andorno, N. The use of the placebo effect in clinical medicine — ethical blunder or ethical imperative?. SCI ENG ETHICS 10, 43–50 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-004-0061-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-004-0061-1

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