Abstract
Dear Editor:
As a pediatric palliative care physician much of my work is affected by the words I use as well as the words I do not use. Words matter and it is in response to the words in the title “Why don't we do more rigorous clinical research so that we can stop experimenting on patients?” 1 that this letter is addressed.
Much (dare I even say most) of medicine (not just palliative medicine) is a practice that lies outside the comforting support of a research evidence base. Until the day comes that we have good evidence for the many things that we do and do not do in medicine we will have to continue to call it a “practice” that includes the art of making decisions based on inadequate data. Such an art is not the same as “experimenting on patients” and this language-ing only gives support to those who already have made up their minds about the methods and motives of modern medicine.
Do we need more research and should we advocate for it? Yes. At the same time we need to be mindful of the words we use and the messages we transmit that may be less than helpful in maintaining the kind of trusting relationship that is so important in clinical care.