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Should we refuse requests for complementary therapies?

A Browne
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Abstract

Health care providers sometimes receive requests from patients or families for complementary therapies. When should they accede to such requests, and when should they refuse them? This is not a problem peculiar to complementary therapies. It arises whenever patients or families request conventional therapies which health care professionals judge problematic in the circumstances. What follows is a set of rationalized recommendations about when health care professionals should and should not honour requests for therapies, whether they be conventional or complementary.

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Attitude of Health PersonnelComplementary TherapiesEvidence-Based MedicineHumansMedical FutilityPatient Acceptance of Health CareReferral and ConsultationRefusal to TreatRisk AssessmentSafetyJournal Article

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A Browne. 1999. Should we refuse requests for complementary therapies?. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0738-3991(99)00064-6

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