Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Ethics, the Patient, and the
Physician is the first comprehensive, multidisciplinary book to focus
on the ethical challenges of complementary and alternative medicine
(CAM), examining the ethical considerations and challenges that
increasingly face patients, physicians and complementary and
alternative medicine practitioners today. In one recent year, it was
estimated that 42% of Americans spent $27 billion out of pocket on CAM
therapies; in particular, CAM therapies are becoming more popular with
baby boomers, who are taking an increasingly active interest in their
health and health care as they age. Most people do not tell their
physicians about their CAM use - what implications does this have for
traditional patient-physician relationships? This volume examines what
should be the center of the dialogue between conventional medicine and
CAM. With big issues and big money at stake, how are patients,
physicians, the health care system and policymakers handling the
explosion in CAM interest and use? What are the physicians' ethical
obligations in this area? These topics and more are examined in this
timely book.
Chapters 1 and 2 of Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Ethics, the
Patient, and the Physician provide a context for thinking about CAM and
introduce its history and definitions. Chapters 3, 4, 5, and 6 examine
the ethical responsibilities of physicians, as well as communications
issues, patient education, legal concerns, and risk management.
Chapter 7 presents a framework for examining CAM using the scientific
method. As we enter the 21st century, and CAM use becomes more
frequent, often as a companion to conventional medicine, this volume is
timely, thought-provoking and practical reading.
