If it doesn't work, stop it: Summary of rapid responses

doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7446.1016-a

BMJ 2004;328:1016 (24 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7446.1016-a

Letter

If it doesn't work, stop it

Summary of rapid responses

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—Most of the 50 or so correspondents agreed thatdoctors are guilty of using treatments that don't work.^1-3 Somethought that patients respond very differently to the same treatment,so what works in one might not work in another. And sometimesuseless, but harmless, treatment bought much needed time forpatients to heal themselves, suggested others.

But many simply felt that culture and training and peer pressureand patient expectations often got in the way of change, evenwhen patients stand to benefit. Financial imperatives, someof which are not always obvious, also favour using treatmentsthat don't work, suggested an ethicist in Qatar. The lack ofpublished negative trial results didn't help much either, volunteereda professor of psychiatry from India.

Just because everyone is doing it, doesn't mean it's right,it was acknowledged. But deviating from accepted practice orlong held traditions, for which a great . . . [Full text of this article]

Caroline White, freelance medical journalist

London E17 4SQ