The Medical Freedom Channel

“About half of American doctors in a new survey say they regularly give patients placebo treatments — usually drugs or vitamins that won’t really help their condition. And many of these doctors are not honest with their patients about what they are doing, the survey found. … The study was being published online in Friday’s issue of BMJ, formerly the British Medical Journal. Placebos as defined in the survey went beyond the typical sugar pill commonly used in medical studies. A placebo was any treatment that wouldn’t necessarily help the patient.” [editor’s note: The implications of this are far-reaching, up to and including the “unintended” windfall for Big Pharma, the inflation of “usual medical costs” overall … and the true effect of “ask your doctor” ad-slogans - SAT] (10/24/08)