Will the Real Charles Fried Please Stand Up?

Abstract

In response to the preceding commentary by Jerry Menikoff in this issue of the Journal, the authors argue that Fried's central concern is not that randomized clinical trials (RCTs) are conducted without consent, but rather that various aspects of the design and conduct of RCTs are in tension with physicians' duties of personal care to their patients. Although Fried does argue that the existence of equipoise cannot justify failure to obtain consent from research subjects, informed consent by itself does not supplant ill subjects' rights to personalized judgment and care embodied in Fried's equipoise.