If I’m a Doctor (Placebo-Controlled Study and Family)
When we develop a new medicine, it must be checked with placebo. This placebo-controlled study helps us know if a new medicine works well. This time, we had gathered people with specific illness and then divided them into two teams with same ratio of patients. One of my family had been selected as an patient in this test. He(She) knew that he(she) didn’t have much time left. I was checking the list with patients’ name written below the medicine they would receive, and that’s when I saw my family’s name underneath the word ‘placebo.’ Patients who were going to receive medicine had a chance to live, but placebo didn’t. The placebo-controlled study would start tomorrow, and I could slightly change the names on the list. After hours of thinking between whether I should change the list or not, I finally made up my mind. I decided not to change my family’s name.
The first reason why I choose not to switch name is because I have learned to act and think rationally. As being a doctor, we need to stay calm. Our job is to save people who are injured and have diseases, so basically who are in emergency. Fast and accurate judgement is needed. Trained to be rational in this environment, I concluded that I should not behave emotionally.
Another reason is because switching names on a experiment that depends people’s life is obviously a major crime. The names had been chosen randomly, and it had been agreed with the patients about it. Also, if I changed the names, what would happen to me after? If the fact that I’d killed a person to save my family had been discovered, it’s hundred percent sure that I would get fired, and I would go to the court as a criminal. It’s better to think wisely about the future. I had always acted emotionally, and the result was always bad.
Even though it’s about family who I love the most, I think we must finish doctor’s oblige first, because many people are responsible in our works and so must we. Causing harms to other people is what we must avoid first, I believe. I hope I’d made a right decision.
