The title is the essence of medical therapeutics. Purpose of medical therapy is not just to cure but alleviate suffering within the confines of about is reasonable.
Example – Fever may, (might) have marginal benefits in prognosis but patient who is shivering under the blanket doesnt care about RCTs or double blind studies. His purpose for seeking help is to alleviate his suffering and if there is a pill that can alleviate it, it has a right to it.
This raises another an essential question about conflict between patient autonomy and nonmaleficence authority of doctors.
Replace the above the example of Fever with pain, an unmeasurable and subjective experience, that overshadows all sufferings and we arrive at the very confines of reasonable vs rational. Pain can be treated with opioids but then opioids are dangerous addictive substances that has destroyed communities.
It is reasonable for me as a patient to demand the strongest pill for the pain that in my subjectivity is aversive but is treating pain with opioids reasonable ?
Is the doctor allowed to determine what is reasonable for me ? – These are some ethical conundrums that i deal with , and non too much in psychiatry.
These conundrums cannot be overcome by screening tests till we develop investigative tools for exploring subjective experience.
Drmd 
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