First of all congratulations to this immensely important milestone.
I principally agree with you, emit, on the questionableness of a placebo affect on an unconscious patient. Especially when the differences between real treatment and placebo are as dramatic as we expect.
Nevertheless i would like to stress the point of a DOUBLE blinded study which implies, that also the doctor who applies the drug does not know if its the real thing or the placebo. And this indeed can make a difference.
Intentional or not, the medical personnel might give a little more attention to the patient who received the real thing...
GLTA