5 Dec 2019

Epilepsy patients angry at being told symptoms in their heads

From Checkpoint, 5:28 pm on 5 December 2019

Pharmac-funded research into whether people with epilepsy were imagining side effects from a medicine brand change has been suspended after four deaths were linked to the switch.

The research included a video sent to patients as part of research into the Nocebo effect, where patients suffer side effects brought on by a mistaken belief that their medicine isn't working properly.

The video was pulled and the research suspended on Wednesday after anger in the epilepsy community.

Investigative reporter Guyon Espiner has the story.