Professionalism and Ethics in Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Gain a better understanding of the complex issues that will decide the future of health care! This is the first book of its kind in the rapidly growing field of complementary and alternative medicine. It addresses quality-of-care concerns and also focuses on the goals of many practitioners: to secure a firm place for their practice in health care systems and to establish levels of integration. Professionalism and Ethics in Complementary and Alternative Medicine is a unique textbook, but is also an essential resource for practitioners of complementary, alternative, and conventional medicine as well as the general public. This volume is divided into three parts. The first looks at a range of current concerns over complementary and alternative medicine, many of which raise ethical issues relating to quality of care. The next section, focusing on professionalism, indicates how practitioners must respond to the public's concerns, especially in light of the public's rising expectations of standards of care among all practitioners. The third part is comprised of case histories plus commentaries suitable for private study or classroom discussion. In this valuable book you will find: an examination of current issues in complementary/alternative medicine and bioethics explorations of other approaches to ethical dilemmas including "bottom-up" ethics such as consequentialism and social utilitarianism plus feminist ethics, virtue ethics, and more informed discussion of public expectations of professional roles and responsibilities case histories that illustrate ethical issues explanations of the Hippocratic Oath and complementary and alternative medicine codes an examination of the power structure within health care systems and much, much more! Growing from a course on ethics and law at the Homeopathic College of Canada in Toronto, Professionalism and Ethics in Complementary and Alternative Medicine will benefit everyone who is concerned with quality care and integrated medicine.