Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Foundations, Ethics, and Law

2003 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert M. Sade
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Alternative Medicine ◽  
Complementary And Alternative Medicine ◽  
Medical Community ◽  
Scientific Medicine ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
American Health Care System ◽  
Objective Evidence ◽  
American Health Care ◽  
Complementary And Alternative

It is doubtful that any feature of the American health care system in the last several decades has had as profound an effect on the way Americans pursue their perceived health needs as complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Almost half of all Americans take care of some of their health care needs outside of contemporary scientific medicine. The number of visits to CAM practitioners was estimated 6 years ago to be 629 million a year, with expenditures of $27 billion a year. The use of CAM has been expanding rapidly despite little objective evidence of its safety or effectiveness. Little more than a decade ago CAM was viewed by the traditional medical community as a nuisance that offered unproven treatments at best and as outright quackery at worst. In any case, alternative medicine, as it was known at that time, seemed unworthy of serious attention.

The Medical Education Priorities of Parents Who Use Complementary and Alternative Medicine

2009 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 70-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maree O’Keefe ◽  
Suzette Coat ◽  
Alison Jones
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Medical Education ◽  
Alternative Medicine ◽  
Complementary And Alternative Medicine ◽  
Family Health ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Patient Centered ◽  
Health Care Experiences ◽  
Centered Care ◽  
Complementary And Alternative

Many parents use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for their children. A number of medical schools are introducing CAM teaching, and this study was undertaken to explore the medical education priorities of parents who use CAM for their children. A total of 27 parents (25 females, 2 males) participated in 1 of 6 focus group discussions. Transcripts were analyzed using an iterative process of concept identification, hypothesis testing, and detailed comparisons. Participant preferences for health care for their children were complex and informed by previous health care experiences and current family health care needs. Using CAM allowed parents choice and control in managing their family’s health care. Many participant priorities for medical education in CAM echoed key principles of patient-centered care in addition to specific suggestions for curriculum development. Participating parents believed that it was important to increase medical students’ knowledge and understanding of both CAM modalities and the perspectives of parents.

A Way Out of the Maze: Federal Agency Preemption of State Licensing and Regulation of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Practitioners

2001 ◽  
Vol 27 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 329-344
Author(s):  
Peter J. Van Hemel
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Medicine ◽  
Complementary And Alternative Medicine ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Medical Community ◽  
Health Care Needs ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Mainstream Medicine ◽  
Two Sides ◽  
Complementary And Alternative

In recent years, complementary and alternative medicine (“CAM”) has grown in both popularity and economic import across all segments of society and is now an established presence in the lives of millions of Americans. It has generated its own field of adherents, practitioners, opponents, lobbyists and counter-lobbyists, case law, and regulations. On one side of the CAM equation stand the advocates of CAM: its practitioners and satisfied patients. On the other stand its detractors: its dissatisfied patients, groups within the established or mainstream medical community, and historically, the American Medical Association (“AMA”). In the aggregate, the two sides engage in large scale scientific and philosophical battles over how best to treat or address the health care needs of patients. On a smaller scale, individuals on each side are essentially lobbying to protect their professions and their jobs. The struggle between the two warring camps fills volumes of medical, legal and popular scholarship. However, it is not the point of this Note to address the validity of the debate between CAM and mainstream medicine.

Emerging Parallels in the American Health Care and Legal-Judicial Systems

1992 ◽  
Vol 18 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 73-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
David C. Hadorn
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care System ◽  
Due Process ◽  
Health Care Rationing ◽  
Health Care Needs ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
American Health Care System ◽  
American Health Care ◽  
Principal Decision Making ◽  
Care System

The structure and principal decision-making processes of the American health care system have, in recent years, evolved to closely resemble those of the legal-judicial system. This transformation reflects important common values that underlie both systems, including the values of life and liberty. This Article analyzes quasi-legal features of the health care system and draws conclusions about how those features might be used to address the problem of health care rationing. It concludes that coverage rules, if properly developed, can provide the sort of objective framework necessary to evaluate claims of health care needs. This Article also demonstrates that by defining legitimate health care needs, society can thereby potentially eliminate or forestall the need to ration necessary care. This can be achieved by using carefully developed coverage rules, rather than the informal rules currently in place, in conjunction with already existing due process methods for interpreting and implementing those rules.

An Innovative Patient-centered Approach to Common Playing-related Pain Conditions in Musicians

2004 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 170-173
Author(s):  
Marc Brodsky ◽  
Ka-Kit Hui
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Alternative Medicine ◽  
Complementary And Alternative Medicine ◽  
Medical Systems ◽  
Case Discussion ◽  
Patient Centered ◽  
Complementary And Alternative

Musicians are increasingly seeking out complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to relieve suffering that results from playing-related pain conditions. Using an innovative patient-centered model, an approach has been developed that can incorporate various medical systems and therapeutics to offer safe, effective, affordable, and accessible health care for musicians. A case discussion explores how musicians, through combining different traditions of medicine in orchestration, can optimize their quality of life while meeting their needs of prevention and rehabilitation of occupation-related conditions.

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