Is it ethical for medical practitioners to prescribe alternative and complementary treatments that may lack an evidence base?

Tam, Chun Wah M

doi:10.5694/mja11.11333

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To the Editor: I read with interest the contrasting perspectives by Pirotta1 and Dwyer2 on the ethics of prescribing complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) interventions, and the subsequent letters on this subject published in the 17 October 2011 issue of the Journal.

University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW.

Correspondence: m.tam@unsw.edu.au

Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

1. Pirotta MV. Is it ethical for medical practitioners to prescribe alternative and complementary treatments that may lack an evidence base? – Yes. Med J Aust 2011; 195: 78. <MJA full text>
2. Dwyer JM. Is it ethical for medical practitioners to prescribe alternative and complementary treatments that may lack an evidence base? – No. Med J Aust 2011; 195: 79. <MJA full text>
3. Kotsirilos V. Is it ethical for medical practitioners to prescribe alternative and complementary treatments that may lack an evidence base? [Letter]. Med J Aust 2011; 195: 451-452. <MJA full text>
4. Jepson RG, Craig JC. Cranberries for preventing urinary tract infections. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2008; (1): CD001321.
5. Barbosa-Cesnik C, Brown MB, Buxton M, et al. Cranberry juice fails to prevent recurrent urinary tract infection: results from a randomised placebo-controlled trial. Clin Infect Dis 2011; 52: 23-30.

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