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Most UK GPs Have Prescribed Placebos

Posted by samzenpus on from the balance-the-humors dept.

Techmeology writes "In a survey of UK GPs, 97% said they'd recommended placebo treatments to their patients, with some doctors telling patients that the treatment had helped others without telling them that it was a placebo. While some doctors admitted to using a sugar pill or saline injection, some of the placebos offered had side effects such as antibiotic treatments used as placebos for viral infections."

5 of 240 comments (clear)

  1. Antibiotic Placebo? by thegarbz · · Score: 5, Informative

    antibiotic treatments used as placebos for vial infections

    I'm sorry but a medical professional should flat out know better.

    1. Re:Antibiotic Placebo? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      I think it's more down to the public not knowing what antibiotics are used for and demanding them where they are not needed.

    2. Re:Antibiotic Placebo? by Let's+All+Be+Chinese · · Score: 5, Informative

      The problem with antibiotics, rather, is that you have to finish the entire run lest you'll end up merely training your infection to become resistant. So it's not strictly a problem of prescribing the stuff too often; it's that plus far too many people starting to feel fine then not finishing the cure.

    3. Re:Antibiotic Placebo? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      The reason doctors prescribe antibiotics inappropriately in family medicine is almost never due to ignorance. It's because it is what the patient expects and not delivering that is damaging to the doctor/patient relationship. In the long run that damage can have a catastrophic impact on the patient's health.

      Source: I'm a doctor.

  2. Re:Not a Placebo by Richard_at_work · · Score: 5, Informative

    The point here is that antibiotics won't do anything for a viral illness - but patients will demand antibiotics for anything and everything until they are blue in the face, many don't accept that the "wonder drug" class of antibiotics won't actually do anything for them.

    My wife is a GP, and we literally just had this conversation :) GPs in the UK get 8 minutes with each patient, they can't afford to spend it arguing with the patient, so they issue antibiotics which have already lost their effectiveness due to prior overuse - we aren't talking about threatening working antibiotics.