Abstract

Abstract Background: One of the issues in medical ethics is the prescribing placebo to patients by doctors. A placebo is an inert substance like sugar pills, distilled water, vitamins and other substances that does not have any pharmacological effect on the patient. The use of placebos in medicine, in principle, is to evaluate the effects of new drugs on patients who are the controlled group for testing new drugs. But according to some of its effects on the patients, the prescribing of placebos has become common in medicine. On ethical view, the challenge here is whether using placebo is deceiving the patient. Is it ethical to deceive a patient? Is it permissible to use a deception which is for the benefit of the person who is being deceived? Conclusion: It seems that prescribing placebos is not regarded as a case of which deceiving others is permissible. Even with regard to the cases in which prescribing placebos and deceiving the patient is for their benefit, since this is a case of disregarding the human dignity, it is morally problematic. Key Words: Medical Ethics, Placebo, Deception of Patient