(December 6, 2013 at 7:36 pm)TaraJo Wrote:(December 6, 2013 at 7:28 pm)pineapplebunnybounce Wrote: No I mean having them stop their meds after the bone marrow transplant. The article made it sound like the sole purpose of that decision was to test if the transplant was the cause. They should've played it safe is my point, not the patients, the doctors who were advising the patients.
Ah. Gotcha.
But if he doesn't stop taking anti-HIV medication, how are we going to really know if the treatment worked or not?
We don't.
But that's the thing, it's unethical to risk patients' health for scientific gains. In medicine the endgame is health, not knowledge, and medical research has to toe this line if it's done on humans.
Of course risks are also taken every time you try a new treatment for research, there's acceptable and unacceptable risks usually determined by an ethics board. Like taking meds off a cancer patient just to have a placebo/control group is not allowed, you have to give them an existing proven to work medication.
I feel like the risks is pretty high in this case, considering it's HIV.
