CIOMS’ Placebo Rule and the Promotion of Negligent Medical Practice

Abstract:

This paper will first indicate how internal inconsistencies in these documents undermine their value when it comes to establishing binding norms for medical research. More importantly, the paper will show how some of the revisions to these guidelines risk violating well-established national legal standards.

The authors will argue that the international organizations supporting these guidelines should clarify the importance of respecting national law and that they should adapt the guidelines so that these more clearly reflect widely shared national legal standards.