Don’t forget that you have the right to refuse to take part in clinical trials. If you do agree, you have the right to withdraw at any stage simply because you don’t want to keep having the randomly allotted treatment—you don’t need any more reason than that. If you refuse from the start or withdraw later, your doctors are obliged to continue to treat you to the best of their ability and without prejudice. If you know or suspect they are not doing this, it would be best to switch to another doctor, if this is possible.
As you know, your informed consent (usually written) is supposedly necessary before you can be treated in any form of research trial. I know that, definitely in Australia, and probably in other countries, some patients are treated in clinical trials without their knowledge or consent. Some doctors randomise their patients and then tell them that they recommend the treatment to which they have in fact already been allotted by chance. The only way you could suspect this is happening is if your doctor is particularly adamant that you follow his or her recommendation (although of course this may simply be a reaction to the fact that your questioning is undermining your doctor’s authority). You should ask directly if you suspect that you are being treated in a research project without your consent.
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