We read with great interest the paper by Duncan et al. on the effect of hydroxyethyl starch (HES) on kidney and haemostatic function in cardiac surgical patients [1]. In their single‐centre, triple‐blind, parallel group, randomised ‘non inferiority’ trial, the authors tested the primary hypothesis that kidney function was not worse in cardiac surgery patients who received HES compared with patients assigned to receive albumin. The authors concluded that reported evidence proves “lack of harm” due to similar results between the groups.