The difficulty a family has in making the decision to place their child on a trial.
Eric Larsen, MD
Pediatric Oncologist, Norris Cotton Cancer Center
It's very scary for a family that has just been told that their child has leukemia or some other form of cancer to also hear that we would like to do some research, and perhaps the treatment that we're going to give your child is research. Many families translate this into a guinea pig phenomenon and that we would like to do an experiment on their child. We spend hours with families to fully inform them of the true nature of these trials--to inform them that their children will not be guinea pigs and that the treatment they will be receiving has been tested and is thought to be not only safe but also effective. We also assure them that there are ongoing mechanisms to measure the success of the trial and that we follow the safety of the trial and that it's always an option for a child who started treatment on a clinical trial to come off that clinical trial.