In some cases taking inert drugs can have a negative consequence,
a common example is when a doctor states side-effects (for a placebo) you can
actually feel the effects, not because the inert drug has actually caused it
but because somehow by believing that you will suffer from it, you do. This
poses huge ethical questions; based purely on this, it is surely better to not tell
patients of side-effects, but then is this not going against the basic rights
of a patient? It seems that we should not be told about unpleasant side-effects because it can reduce our pain and suffering however we are being denied the
knowledge that the doctor by law is meant to tell us.
A possible extreme case of the Nocebo effect is death, in
1992 the Southern Medical Journal reported the case of a man who had been diagnosed
with cancer and was given a several month life expectancy. His autopsy showed
the tumour in his liver had not grown; a member of staff working with his autopsy
said “I do not know the pathologic cause of his death.” It has been suggested
that his death could be the cause of the Nocebo effect. It is only a suggested theory
and still remains highly unclear- this medical case happened in 1973, and
perhaps with our improved medical knowledge a cause would have been
established had it happened in the present day.
Who knows? Maybe the extents of the Nocebo effect can
sometimes be that extreme. I find it a refreshing thought that we still have
much to learn about the medical science of humans and how the mind interacts
with our body.
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