An Ethical Framework for Complementary and Alternative Therapists

As growing numbers of patients turn to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), the focus of attention has largely been on whether these therapies work and whether they are safe. These questions are central to further integration of CAM with orthodox medicine. But in the absence of formal regulation, it is equally critical to consider the ethical dimensions of the CAM therapeutic encounter.
In this book, Julie Stone demonstrates that ethical issues are no less relevant to CAM therapists than they are to doctors or any other group of health professionals. She provides CAM therapists with a detailed framework of the specific ethical issues which affect CAM practice to help practitioners think constructively about how ethics underpin their therapeutic work.
An Ethical Framework for Complementary and Alternative Therapists encourages critical and reflective practice, suggests practical problems to common problems, includes illustrative scenarios of ethical dilemmas faced by therapists and summarises key points. This timely book offers a comprehensive guide to this important area. Its challenging conclusions are as relevant to experienced practitioners as to students and newly qualified therapists. This book will also interest policy makers and professional bodies interested in strengthening and enhancing CAM's potential.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Martha J. Greenberg, PhD, RN(Pace University)
Description:This book considers the ethical issues of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) starting with a discourse on the meaning of ethics and ethical theories in healthcare. Common ethical issues encountered in CAM practice from the provider's and patient's perspectives are noted. The final third of the book analyzes distinct ethical issues of therapies grouped together sharing a common approach.
Purpose:The two underlying purposes guiding this book are to provide a discourse on ethics in CAM with justification for, or lack of justification for, applying traditional bioethical theories to CAM and to discuss the identification of key ethical practice and research issues in CAM. Although some of the information on ethical theories may be redundant, there is very practical information on ethical principles and practical suggestions for avoiding ethical problems. For example, suggested ways to formalize consent should help practitioner to eradicate patient misunderstanding, legal action, or professional complaints.
Audience:Aimed at practitioners and students of CAM, this guide is also appropriate for conventional health care providers and patients who wish to critically examine prospective CAM practitioners. This is the second book that author Julie Stone, a lecturer in Ethics and Law, has published. The first was targeted at CAM and the law.
Features:Undoubtedly the most important chapters of this book are those that concentrate on the application of ethics with short case studies from practice. Examples from clinical situations are presented to illustrate key points interspersed with commentary about ethical-legal points. A wide variety of clinical issues are discussed, such as diagnosis by reflexologists, negotiating contracts within a therapeutic relationship, withholding remedy names by homeopaths.
Assessment:This esoteric yet practical little book appears to stand alone in the field. No other books are quite like it. Other texts such as Callahan's The Role of Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Accommodating Pluralism (Georgetown University Press, 2002) is more research based than this. Stone especially fills a void for students and clinicians.