No one asked the baby -- an ethical issue in placebo-controlled trials in pregnant smokers.
This case report involving a placebo-controlled nicotine patch trial illustrates the difficult issue of conducting placebo studies in pregnancy, when one of the two patients involved cannot be asked to consent.
Selby
Peter
P
Division of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto.
Kapur
Bhushan
B
Hackman
Richard
R
Koren
Gideon
G
D000328:Adult; D003367:Cotinine / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent; D008431:Maternal-Fetal Exchange; D011247:Pregnancy; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Q000941:ethics*; D016540:Smoking Cessation; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000097:blood*
D003367:Cotinine