{"id":3173,"date":"2017-06-08T10:12:18","date_gmt":"2017-06-08T09:12:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/?p=3173"},"modified":"2017-06-15T17:41:49","modified_gmt":"2017-06-15T16:41:49","slug":"a-plutocratic-proposal-an-ethical-way-for-rich-patients-to-pay-for-a-place-on-a-clinical-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/2017\/06\/08\/a-plutocratic-proposal-an-ethical-way-for-rich-patients-to-pay-for-a-place-on-a-clinical-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"A Plutocratic Proposal: An Ethical Way for Rich Patients to Pay for a Place on a Clinical Trial"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guest Post:\u00a0Alexander Masters and Dominic Nutt
\n<\/strong><\/em>Paper: A Plutocratic Proposal: an ethical way for rich patients to pay for a place on a clinical trial<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Is it ethically possible to fund a clinical trial by charging the participants?\u00a0 We believe we have discovered a way to do it.\u00a0 Our suggested method has, as far as we know, never been proposed before.<\/p>\n

In A Plutocratic Proposal: <\/em>an ethical way for rich patients to pay for a place on a clinical trial<\/em> we show how the system could work and argue that all the usual and obvious objections to patient-funded clinical research do not apply in this case; indeed, in several respects the Plutocratic Proposal is more ethical than established methods of funding human experiments. \u00a0Furthermore, we believe the Plutocratic Proposal will provide new money for research, particularly for neglected research into rare diseases; it will not deplete the already limited resources of traditional funders.<\/p>\n

The \u2018usual ethical objections\u2019 include such points as:<\/p>\n