Unconscious Kiwis are taking part in a new clinical trial aimed at fighting the spread of antibiotic resistance.
The drugs are administered to patients who are in coma. But doctors say it is a technique they've been using for years all over the world.
When patients are taken into intensive care, they require urgent medical attention and often they are unable to give consent.
But doctors say their treatment can only be improved if it is tested on them too.
"We need to do research on the group of patients who are critically ill - to not do the research would be unethical. We would deny them the opportunities for better care," says Auckland DHB chief medical health officer Margaret Wilsher.
A New Zealand clinical trial has been given provisional approval to test different types of antibiotics on unconscious patients who have pneumonia and are on hospital ventilators.
It is part of a global study to see if new drugs are as good as those already used - as researchers wage a war against increasing resistance to antibiotics.
"We will obtain consent as soon as the patient is able to give it to us... so when they wake up, we will be mindful of the families wishes for the patient and indeed we'll be mindful of what the patient may or may not want for themselves," says Ms Wilsher.
She says thousands of patients throughout the country have already been tested while unconscious for different trials and only 5 percent complained when they woke up.
Former chair of the Health and Disabilities Ethics Committee, Tim Dare, says if there is evidence this trial is in the patient's best interests, it should be approved."You're looking at antibiotics to help people on respirators in ICU units, you may not be able to test that on anyone else except that group," he says.
If research is given the green light, 21 patients will be selected across Auckland and Christchurch - only they won't know it until they wake up.
3 News
source: newshub archive
