ABSTRACT
Most of us have at least some experiences of pain, as well as at least some experiences of the relief that pain medication can give in such situations. It may come as a surprise, then, that painkillers have in most cases not been tested according to the strict standards of contemporary clinical research. That a patient reports having been helped is the weakest kind of evidence or no evidence at all to support the effect of a treatment – at least according to current mainstream medical thinking.
