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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.


  • Department of General Practice, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC.


Correspondence: m.pirotta@unimelb.edu.au

Competing interests:

None relevant to this article declared (ICMJE disclosure form completed).

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  • 3. Williamson M, Tudball J, Toms M, et al. Information use and needs of complementary medicines users. Sydney: National Prescribing Service, 2008.
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  • 5. Brophy E. Does a doctor have a duty to provide information and advice about complementary and alternative medicine? J Law Med 2003; 10: 271-284.
  • 6. Pirotta M, Kotsirilos V, Brown J, et al. Complementary medicine in general practice. A national survey of GP attitudes and knowledge. Aust Fam Phys 2010; 39: 946-950.
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