The Integral Role of Clinical Research in Clinical Care

Abstract

The ethical justification for clinical research as currently conducted has been questioned on the grounds that physicians do not make a strict and unequivocal distinction for their patients between clinical research and clinical care, and their patients may therefore participate in clinical studies with the false impression that they are being cared for to the best of their physicians' ability.¹ This issue raises difficult and controversial questions about the intentions, goals, and responsibilities of clinical researchers, as evidenced by the numerous editorials and articles on the subject that have appeared in the Journal in recent decades.²⁶ These are certainly . . .