Ethicist: Studies have documented the capacity of placebos to reduce pain in patients who believe that they are receiving beneficial drugs. Some doctors say that they administer placebos because medically effective treatment reinforced by the placebo effect sometimes helps patients recover faster than good treatment alone. But administering placebos is nonetheless ethically questionable, for even if a placebo benefits a patient, a doctor might, for example, have prescribed it just to give the patient satisfaction that something was being done. The ethicist's argument depends on which one of the following assumptions?
A. A patient's psychological satisfaction is not a consideration in administering medical treatment.
B. The motivation for administering a placebo can be relevant to the ethical justification for doing so.
C. Medical treatment that relies on the placebo effect alone is ethically indefensible.
D. The pain relief produced by the placebo effect justifies the deception involved in administering a placebo.
E. Administering a placebo is not ethically justified if that treatment is not prescribed by a doctor.![]()
A. A patient's psychological satisfaction is not a consideration in administering medical treatment.
B. The motivation for administering a placebo can be relevant to the ethical justification for doing so.
C. Medical treatment that relies on the placebo effect alone is ethically indefensible.
D. The pain relief produced by the placebo effect justifies the deception involved in administering a placebo.
E. Administering a placebo is not ethically justified if that treatment is not prescribed by a doctor.