FEW scandals in science are more chilling than those in which patients have been subjected to risky medical experiments without their knowing it. It’s a scenario that seems almost unthinkable in these days of ethics boards, oversight committees and whistle-blowers. Yet new research has lifted the lid on just such a scandal, and one that has been running for decades in many countries. It is now clear that tens of thousands of patients have been subjected to pointless, unethical and potentially lethal medical experiments in hospitals around the world.
The experiments are of the type known as randomised controlled trials (RCTs), which are widely and rightly acknowledged as the acid test of the effectiveness of new therapies. Over the years, RCTs have identified countless life-saving therapies, from new surgical techniques to cancer drugs. Patients who take part are randomly divided into two groups. One is prescribed the new treatment, the other a “control” such as a placebo. By comparing the success rates of the two groups, doctors can gauge the effectiveness of a new treatment. Their conclusions have been confirmed by years of experience on wards. No one seriously doubts that therapies identified in this way work.
No one, that is, apart from the many researchers who insist on carrying out RCTs on proven therapies. In dividing their patients into treatment and control groups, they are denying half of them access to the already proven therapy. At best, these patients have their health unjustifiably jeopardised. At worst, they could be receiving a death sentence.
It seems incredible that such trials could escape the notice of the ethics ...