[tptacek]

Your argument here basically questions the whole idea of blinded studies ("Who cares if doctors will figure out which medication is the placebo?", it suggests; "After all, that only matters if doctors are crooked.")

But you're replying to a comment that lays out a scenario in which 8-9 figure clinical trials were ruined by the incidental outcome of reasonable honest doctors accidentally unblinding studies.

[jeremyarussell]

I don't mean more disclosure to the doctors on the pills, if that's what you thought, which I'm only assuming because I wasn't attempting to question the validity of clinical trials at all. I was saying given the language the person I was replying to used, it seemed like the doctors were actively trying to figure out what which pills were which, evidenced by the fact that instead of going "dang, we accidentally figured it out and now are susceptible to bias. We should start the trials over right NOW instead of wasting money" They went, lets retest these patients since the outcome isn't coming out like we think it should, something they should know isn't going to fly.

Also not saying specifically that it was malice, but that it's either malice or stupidity, or both.

Also, I have ethical and intellectual standards of doctors doing things that will impact hundreds of thousands of people.

Not sure why you said "Who cares if doctors will figure out which medication is the placebo?" - Since I didn't even insinuate that.