How Should a Research Ethicist Combat False Beliefs and Therapeutic Misconception Risk in Biomedical Research?

Therapeutic misconception can be especially challenging at large research-intensive academic medical centers, where boundaries between clinical care and research can become murky. In early stage clinical trials, for example, physicians often encourage patients to enroll in a drug or an intervention study as part of a treatment plan. As a research ethicist, I have found myself having to temper researchers' enthusiasm to prevent their overemphasizing positive benefits to participants. One strategy I've used is to encourage researchers to collaborate with treating physicians and to continually engage participants in assessing risks and benefits. This strategy has been helpful not only in early stage trials but also in translational genomic studies in which research can be used in part as a means of making costly testing available to patients.