MJA
MJA

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

Marie V Pirotta
Med J Aust 2011; 195 (2): . || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2011.tb03211.x
Published online: 18 July 2011

Academic GP Marie Pirotta says some alternative therapies are worthy of consideration

Yes The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is hugely popular — each year, over half of the Australian population uses some form of CAM, at a total cost of $A1.8 billion.1 Importantly, most of this use of CAM is not a substitute for conventional therapy. Indeed, CAM is often used together with conventional therapies to treat particular conditions.

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