Complementary Medicine and the Law

Complementary Medicine and the Law

by Julie Stone (Author)

Synopsis

The growth of complementary medicine over the past decade has been accompanied by calls for greater regulation. To date, discussions on regulation have confined themselves to the parameters set by orthodox medicine, and a result, critical issues which need to be more publicly aired have been overlooked. The first book to address this increasingly important topics, Complementary Medicine and the Law is a timely response to this need. The authors explore the way in which the law presently affects the practice of complementary medicine. At the heart of the book is a challenging of the notion that the legal and regulatory mechanisms which govern orthodox medicine form an appropriate model for the regulation of most complementary therapies. The patient-centred, holistic approach central to the theory and practice of many complementary therapies presents a unique problem for the law: the highly individualised, more intuitive, whole-person approach of complementary medicine is not amenable to the quantification and certainty required by the law. The authors argue that only by implementing a more dynamic form of ethics-directed regulation can the consumer be protected without sacrificing the unique contribution that complementary medicine has to make.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 328
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 11 Jul 1996

ISBN 10: 0198259719
ISBN 13: 9780198259718

Media Reviews
'This highly readable book is written by a lawyer specialising in health care and a practising therapist who was an academic lawyer...the book is readable and the arguments are accessible to their reader and the book holds the interest to the end...They set out clearly the intrinsic problems in implementing or even introducing codes of conduct and regulating complementary therapies but set out their solutions...deserves to be widely read by complementary practitioners and trainees and the general public and most of all by doctors and politicians.' * National Council of Psychotherapists & National Council for Hypnotherapy *
'There are interesting and useful discussions regarding existing statutory regulation,,,and helpful parallels are drawn with problems that have arisen from doctors' professional conduct rules.' * Law Society Gazette *
'the book covers an important area and is so far the only one in this particular niche...the authors should be commended for taking up the subject and for alerting complementary practitioners to the complexity of the issues involved. Let us hope that the book does become essential reading for those who need it most: the complementary practitioners.'
'The book is well-researched - any references are noted at the foot of the page - and well written...I would recommend this book to students as it will give a detailed insight as to how and why the regulations we work under have formulated and of course those in forefront of developine self-regulatory professional bodies.'
'This is a timely book, given the growing interest in the whole subject of therapy and the law... This is a well-written, radical and questioning book, strongly sympathetic to the complementary therapies. Practitioners will find it challenges many of their assumptions about the future direction of legal controls over the new 'health care pluralism''
'extremely readable and well-researched study of the issues surrounding complementary medicine...There is a great deal of fascinating detail here about the forces at play in the regulation debate...Their suggestions are judicious and balanced, and should, if implemented, achieve the necessary balance between freedom and regulation'
'This is an excellent, scholarly work which contains a great deal of useful information on the legal and ethical aspects of an increasinbgly important subject. It should start an interesting debate on issues which have not previously been given their due in medical ethics and law.'
'how easy it is to read...exceptionally well indexed and annotated, making it one of the most easily accessible reference books I have seen in a long time...it actually makes an interesting read, although the sheer volume of information is such that it might be best handled in small portions...it will provide an extremely useful guide for those doctors, lawyers and complementary practitioners who have to consider and deal with the legal and ethical issues of both traditional and complementary medicine of every medical and legal library.'
...usefully describes not only the types of treatment but also the training that therapists undertake. * GP *
Author Bio
Julie Stone is a Research Associate with Hempsons Solicitors, Covent Garden, London Joan Matthews is a dually qualified Lawyer and Therapist