Can you experiment on patients?
The answer is yes.
As an academic thoracic surgeon many of lung and esophageal cancer patients were in clinical studies. If you are considering participation in a study or are simply curious, this blog should be helpful.
There is supervision of and tight controls on studies carried out on patients. Before getting to those details let me quickly acknowledge that there is an unfortunate history of trials of medicines and vaccines being used on patients without their knowledge or consent. These people were experimented on in an unethical manner. Happily, those times are long past.
Clinical research to determine the best treatment for a disease is important as we strive to obtain the best possible therapies. In most instances a new drug or operation is compared to the current, standard, treatment. Ideally the study randomly assigns patients to one of the two patient groups and the results determine the efficacy and safety of the new option compared to the standard.
What are the controls and who supervises? They begin with the Institutional Review Board. An IRB is present in every academic medical center that conducts clinical research. They are made up of representatives from the physicians, the hospital administration, the public and frequently someone from the pastoral service. All patient studies must be submitted for review by the IRB which checks both for safety issues and to be sure a reasonable question is being asked. If the study is approved patients can be asked to participate. They are required to read an informed consent form that identifies the potential benefit, e.g., learning that a new treatment is better than the current standard, and clearly sets out all perceived risks. The patient is free to drop out of the study at any time. Finally, the IRB monitors the progress of the study, primarily to ensure patient safety.
If you are seeking a clinical trial yourself, check with your physicians or check with your local academic health center.
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