THE HEARTLESSNESS OF SOME CLINICAL TRIALS.

THE HEARTLESSNESS OF SOME CLINICAL TRIALS. The protocols of the clinical trial were followed even though they made no sense. Doctors had to know from years of experience with decarbazine, the drug that had been used for 30 years, what would happen to people in the control group. There was some opposition to the idea that the control group was needed to provide a comparison. One doctor said: “My use of this drug is not going to be informed by testing it against a drug we all hate and would rather never give a dose of again in our lives.” Nevertheless, priority was given to having a comparison with the control group. In Amy Harmon’s words about the young man in the control group, “Even if it became clear that the chemotherapy could not hold back the tumors advancing into his lungs, liver and, most painfully, his spine, he would not be allowed to switch, lest it muddy the trial’s results.”