There’s a new pill on the market. It was created especially for kids. For when they need a little more than a kiss to make their owie go away. It’s called “Obecalp.” That’s “placebo” spelled backwards.
I think I took these once. They came in my Fisher Price doctors set. I downed the entire bottle immediately upon opening the packaging. Was that dangerous? I don’t think so. No one promised me anything with my sugar-pill prescription. I knew it was really just candy.
The mom who created Obecalp says that she cares about our children and the future of children around our world. Which seems a bit grandiose considering we’re talking about sugar pills. She’s not exactly curing cancer here. And anyway, is it possible she’s doing more harm than good?
I have to wonder, is it ever ethical to use a placebo? Isn’t that kind of like…LYING? Or is it one of those innocent lies we tell kids - like Santa Claus? Does the end justify the means as long as everyone just STOPS CRYING OMG WOULD YOU JUST STOP CRYING!!!!
Is sending kids the message that a pill can cure all that ails them a good message in today’s world? (Let’s not forget, someone once thought it was a good idea to sell candy cigarettes to kids, too.) Call me crazy, but I think it’s important for kids to learn that some hurts do actually heal all on their own.
“I don’t buy the argument that a placebo pill is just like putting a ‘Band-Aid on a boo-boo,’” says Douglas Kamerow, a family physician and former Assistant Surgeon General. ”We know it doesn’t make any difference, but we tell the kids that it does. Sure, there are kids who end up wanting a Band-Aid for every possible problem, but I have never seen an adult Band-Aid addict.”
What say you? A good idea or a disaster in the making? Would you give them to your child?
May 29th, 2008 at 8:58 am
A disaster in the making! I’d rather tell a child “Here’s a lollipop. It will help you forget about the pain because it gives your brain something else to think about.” Most children will believe what I say, and I haven’t misrepresented anything.
Thinking that there is a pill to make everything better intimates that nothing in life should ever be painful and when the child figures out that’s a big fat lie, then you become the liar.
One of the first lessons taught EMTs is that you NEVER lie to the patient; when you lose the patient’s trust, you might as well just go home, you are so useless.
I never want to be useless to children who might count on me.