risky trials

The New York Times ran an interesting article about parents choosing to enroll their child with an incurable cancer into a risky clinical trial. Clinical research professionals consider something called "therapeutic misconception" when informing potential participants in clinical trials. People sometimes go into clinical trials with unrealistic expectations of a clinical benefit and positive outcome, when really the purpose of a clinical trial is for research and there are no guarantees of benefit to participants. Though in this story, it had a good outcome, it is a reminder that as researchers we need to explain the risks of clinical trials and the reality that there are no guarantees. The parents in this story realize their daughter's story is only the beginning, and that their daughter is a part of a larger body of research in cancer tumors. And they realize the cancer could come back and say they are ready with knowledge if it does.

You can find the article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/health/18seco.html?ex=1363752000&en=6ee45f0ce2097996&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink