Brophy Elizabeth
J Law Med. 2003 Feb;10(3):271-84.
It is argued that a doctor has a duty to provide information about reasonably available complementary and alternative medicine treatments where that information would be material to the particular patient or the hypothetical prudent patient. Given the vast array of such treatments available, doctors will want to rely on evidence-based medicine problem-solving skills to ascertain those treatments that are safe and efficacious. While the risk of litigation for failure to provide such information is probably low at this time, given the high rate of patient self-prescribing, it is necessary for a doctor to open a dialogue with a patient about complementary and alternative medicine to address safety concerns. In addition, it is important to facilitate access to the best of conventional and complementary treatments to ensure better health outcomes for the patient.
有人认为，医生有责任提供有关合理可得的补充和替代医学治疗的信息，前提是这些信息对特定患者或假设的审慎患者具有重要意义。鉴于此类治疗方法种类繁多，医生会希望依靠循证医学的问题解决技巧来确定那些安全有效的治疗方法。鉴于患者自我开药方的比例很高，目前因未能提供此类信息而引发诉讼的风险可能较低，但医生有必要与患者就补充和替代医学展开对话，以解决安全问题。此外，促进患者获得最佳的传统和补充治疗方法对于确保患者获得更好的健康结果非常重要。
