Doctors Often Prescribe Placebo Treatments

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Placebo treatment "is pretty common in the practice of medicine," said Curlin, who acknowledged using it. "I give people the information I think a reasonable person would want to know, trying to be as candid as possible," he said. "There are times when I have said, 'Yes, I think it might be helpful, why don't you give it a try,' when I don't have confidence it will help their condition."

What matters is that the treatment can help, Curlin added. "The placebo effect is a real effect," he said. "People do feel better. To the extent that it can be mobilized in a way that is restful and not actively deceiving patients, I think it is acceptable."

Placebo treatment "is part of an old but good medical tradition," said Dr. David Spiegel, an assistant chair of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University. "The basic rule is: First, do no harm. If there is no toxicity, and it does some good, evidence supports its use," Spiegel said.

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But straightforward lying about a prescription is wrong, said Dr. Andrew Leuchter, associate dean of the school of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.

"The cornerstone of what treatment is acceptable is full disclosure for the patient," Leuchter said. "If you explain to the patient what you are doing, and why you are doing it, that is right. If you mislead a patient, there is a serious problem with that."

The appropriate way to explain a placebo treatment, Leuchter added, is to say, "There is no reasonable medical evidence that this pill is effective for your condition, but some people who take this pill say it makes them feel better."

It is important to note that "deception is not a necessary part of the placebo effect," Spiegel said. "You can tell people that the treatment might benefit them, and that is not a lie."

And the placebo effect is often at work in medical practice, Spiegel noted. "A lot of factors go into the effect of therapy, some of which are specifically pharmaceutical, and some are not. You might feel better, because you feel you are doing something actively to treat the problem."

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