COMMON?? Giving "placebo" medications by doctors??

A recent study discovered that almost half of doctors have prescribed their patients with placebo drugs. The results were gathered via a survey conducted in three Chicago-based medical institutions.

With about 230 doctors as respondents, the survey revealed that they have administered their patients with placebo drugs, which are mostly sugar pills with no medicinal effects whatsoever. They are administered to patients, with doctors adhering to the belief of the relationship between the mind and the body, with the patient's belief in being treated influencing their actual physical condition and recovery.

The survey concluded that the doctors that prescribed their patients with the placebo drugs used many variations such as vitamins, low-dose drugs, and even the simple sugar pills. It also revealed that 20 percent of the doctors prescribed the drugs to calm patients, while 15 percent did so to merely satisfy what was termed as patients' "unjustified" claims and demands. Six percent reportedly did so to make their patients "stop complaining."

"Placebos have been used in medicine since ancient times and remain both clinically relevant and philosophically interesting," U.S. News & World Report quoted co-author Rachel Sherman, a medical student at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. "In addition to their recognized use as controls in clinical trials, this study suggests that placebos themselves are viewed as therapeutic tools in medical practice."

A study of Danish general practitioners found that 48% had prescribed a placebo at least 10 times in the past year. The most frequently prescribed placebos were antibiotics for viral infections, and vitamins for fatigue. Specialists and hospital-based physicians reported much lower rates of placebo use. (Hrobjartsson 2003) A 2004 study in the British Medical Journal of physicians in Israel found that 60% used placebos in their medical practice, most commonly to "fend off" requests for unjustified medications or to calm a patient. Of the physicians who reported using placebos, only 15% told their patients they were receiving placebos or non-specific medications. (Nitzan 2004)