The Ethics of Research on Treatment Discontinuation

Abstract

Discussions of the ethics of research with human participants frequently focus on early-phase studies that investigate the clinical properties of novel interventions,¹ randomized controlled trials that investigate the relative diagnostic, prophylactic, or therapeutic merits of promising new interventions,² or pragmatic research on existing practices.³ There has also been significant discussion of ethical issues in trials that employ a "washout period," in which participants discontinue one treatment before being exposed to another.⁴.