Posted by klausen on June 24, 2003 at 15:41:41:
In Reply to: I think this is the article. posted by timmichalak@hotmail.com on June 24, 2003 at 09:48:55:
It is an interesting paradox that in so many situations in life where a danger is perceived there is very little time devoted to perfecting a solution before it is applied. If we are threatened by Iraq an invasion is underway in no time; if we are drowning in quicksand we reach for the nearest branch right away, even before exhaustively testing its safety and effectiveness. It is simply the natural human response to counter a real and immediate threat with little worry about the theoretical dangers in the remedy applied. Why is it, then, that in medical research the safety and effectiveness of every remedy is considered so much more important than in the rest of human experience? Perhaps because in the days when Hippocrates' dictum, "First do no harm," was formulated, the most typical diseases were self-limiting bacterial or viral infections and most medicines were ineffective, such caution made sense. Hippocrates' rule has long since become an anachronism, however, and it is high time for medical science to outgrow it.