Clinical researchers have long claimed that patients who enter clinical trials are better off medically than those who don’t. I’m open to the notion that patients might derive personal meaning from trial participation, but I’ve always been dubious of the suggestion that trial participation in itself is therapeutically beneficial–above and beyond drugs received– in part because this has never been demonstrated in a convincing way. I’ve also worried about the way the “trial effect” has been occasionally mobilized to recruit patients, or to apologize for studies of dubious design. Last, I’ve worried about the ethical implications of the prospect that, in order to receive top quality care, patients should be enrolling in (or have access to) clinical trials.
BibTeX
@Manual{stream2009-76, title = {Finding Skew: Informed Consent and Bias in Clinical Trials}, journal = {STREAM research}, author = {Jonathan Kimmelman}, address = {Montreal, Canada}, date = 2009, month = dec, day = 4, url = {http://www.translationalethics.com/2009/12/04/finding-skew-informed-consent-and-bias-in-clinical-trials/} }
MLA
Jonathan Kimmelman. "Finding Skew: Informed Consent and Bias in Clinical Trials" Web blog post. STREAM research. 04 Dec 2009. Web. 01 Sep 2024. <http://www.translationalethics.com/2009/12/04/finding-skew-informed-consent-and-bias-in-clinical-trials/>
APA
Jonathan Kimmelman. (2009, Dec 04). Finding Skew: Informed Consent and Bias in Clinical Trials [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.translationalethics.com/2009/12/04/finding-skew-informed-consent-and-bias-in-clinical-trials/