[Ethical and legal aspects of the use of placebos in research and practice]

Abstract

The discussion of ethical and legal problems concerning placebo application is suggested as an essential constituent of modern placebo research. Implications of distinctions between inadvertent and intended placebo applications and between single case and sample applications of placebos are examined. Implicit hypotheses of placebo applicators (investigators, practitioners) on the indications and contra-indications of placebos are confronted with empirical data which are still limited, however. Differentiation between several levels of information given the placebo recipient about the real nature of the placebo application is suggested and pro and contra of each level will be discussed in detail. In the following ethical and legal aspects of placebo application in practice (with clinical patients) and in research (sample tests) are elaborated. Finally actual issues of law concerning placebo applications in the Federal Republic of Germany are discussed.