Quote Originally Posted by DuncanONeil View Post
Economics and medicine can in no way provide an adequate comparison.
Much of medicine is in the mind even when a drug is prescribed. The complaint against your offer was that there may be nothing wrong with the patient, yet they insist that there is and some drug will help them. With no evidence of an underlying malady you are opposed to the doctor prescribing a placebo. Or in the case where the patients desire for a specific advertised drug is also not indicated for their "condition" the doctor can not exercise his training and "treat" HIS patient in the manner that best suits HIS patient.
Part of the problem is again the assumption that if the patient is at the doctor that there must absolutely be something wrong!
Patients are not the property of doctors. If nothing is wrong the doctor is allowed to within the confines of the law refuse to provide unnecessary treatments. Giving someone a placebo to shut them up is highly problematic. Particularly, because sometimes the doctors are actually wrong, and if they do the consequences are very serious.

There is a reason why prescribing placebo's is illegal, and that reason is a good one. Even assuming most patients are hypochondriacs or looking to score some painkillers, refusing treatment is a viable option, and its one that doesn't hinder the people who actually suffer from legitimate conditions. Often unexplained pain is an early warning sign for certain forms of cancer, and if a doctor treats it with a placebo resulting in a delayed diagnosis that's almost certain to be a massive lawsuit, and I wouldn't for a second think the patient was in the wrong.