The ethics of placebos

  • Donna Knapp van Bogaert University of Stellenbosch
  • Gboyega Adebola Ogunbanjo University of Limpopo (Medunsa Campus)
Keywords: placebo, informed consent, patient autonomy, placebo effect

Abstract

The word “placebo”, first used during funeral ceremonies in the 14th century, is derived from old Latin and means “I shall please”. At the time, it was practice among Roman Catholics to hire professional mourners to wail vespers for the dead. Placebo Dominio regione vivorium translates from Psalm 116: 9 as “I shall please the Lord in the land of the living”. Professional mourners served as stand-ins for the family of the deceased. They “walked” before the holy being by acting in a manner which pleased Him. Over time and in many circles, the term came to connote a substitution for the actual.

Author Biographies

Donna Knapp van Bogaert, University of Stellenbosch
PhD, DPhil Fellow Centre for Applied Ethics University of Stellenbosch; Independent Consultant in Ethics
Gboyega Adebola Ogunbanjo, University of Limpopo (Medunsa Campus)
MBBS, FCFP(SA), M Fam Med, FACRRM, FACTM, FAFP(SA), FWACP (Fam Med) Department of Family Medicine & Primary Health Care University of Limpopo (Medunsa Campus) Pretoria
Issue
Vol 55 No 1: January/February 2013
Section
Ethics CPD Supplement
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