Return to CTSpedia Web Home
The reference form that you need to complete is on the bottom of this page.
PLEASE scroll down for the form.
This topic: CTSpedia > WebHome > HelpForContributors > AddReference > References093
Topic revision: 12 Mar 2013, MaryBanach
Copyright © by the contributing authors. All material on this collaboration platform is the property of the contributing authors.
Ideas, requests, problems regarding Foswiki? Send feedback
ReferencesCTSpediaForm edit
| Title | Clinical Trials--Are They Ethical? |
| Author | Passamani E. |
| Year | 1991 |
| Journal | N Engl J Med |
| Volume | 324 |
| Issue | |
| Pages | 1589-1592 |
| Publisher | |
| Link_for_PDF_for_Education | |
| Link for Open Access | |
| DOI | |
| Link for DOI | |
| Web_Access_Paper | |
| Contributed_by | Ronald Thisted, University of Chicago |
| Commentary | In this second of two Sounding Board essays on the ethics of randomized trials (see Hellman and Hellman, 1991), Passamani argues that randomized trials are "the most ethically correct means of evaluating new therapies." Passamani recognizes that clinical trials can impinge on the physician-patient relationship, but that ethical difficulties can successfully be addressed through elements of study design. For Passamani, the ethical cornerstones of the RCT are informed consent (which Hellman and Hellman reject), and clinical equipoise (a lack of which Passamani defines in terms of one treatment being clearly established as superior, while Hellman and Hellman define in terms of a preference or even a hunch that one treatment is better than the other). The data and safety monitoring board is an ethical surrogate for the physician and patient, to terminate a study when clinical equipoise no longer holds. A key distinction is between proven and unproven therapies; RCTs involving the former do compromise the physician-patient relationship, while those involving the latter need not. |
| Additional_Information | |
| Reference_Subject | Biostat_Ethics |
| Disclaimer | The views expressed within CTSpedia are those of the author and must not be taken to represent policy or guidance on the behalf of any organization or institution with which the author is affiliated. |
Topic revision: 12 Mar 2013, MaryBanach
Copyright © by the contributing authors. All material on this collaboration platform is the property of the contributing authors. Ideas, requests, problems regarding Foswiki? Send feedback