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Complementary and Alternative Medicine
The MAJ appreciates the worldwide trend towards the increased use of complementary and alternative medicine. This trend is reinforced and supported by continuing media attention, intense commercial efforts by providers of products and services as well as the ease of availability through over the counter access to many products used in complementary and alternative medicine.
The physician, in his role as patient advocate has an ethical responsibility to promote and protect the patient’s wellbeing. There are two issues of concern: safety and effectiveness.
Safety Issues:
The critical issue is safety. This potential can exist for both direct and indirect risk. Safety concerns are tempered in some CAM modalities for example, acupuncture, but others such as megadosing can be toxic and dangerous. Other risks include toxic reaction from the ingested substance, interference with the mechanism of action of a prescribed drug or treatment and patient delay or avoidance in seeking appropriate conventional treatment.
Effectiveness:
This involves the acceptance of evidence-based research data. While some complementary and alternative therapies have trusted and acknowledged investigation, others do not.
The concern of safety and effectiveness of complementary and alternative therapies are likely to diminish over the coming years as more research is done supporting clinical decisions on the background of evidenced-based experience. Until then, we suggest that the public be careful in selecting complementary and alternative therapies.
Dr Errol A Daley
December 2005 |
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