Pediatric Alternative Medicine, Part II

Jann Bellamy continues his analysis of alternative medicine as it applies to pediatric medical practice (Part I is here).

Bellamy's conclusion:

This Pediatrics supplement presents CAM for the most part as ineffective and sometimes dangerous. But instead of arguing for reasonable limitations on, or elimination of, CAM products and services, the main message is that physicians must accommodate CAM in their practices, even to the point of referring patients to CAM practitioners. This is the wrong solution to CAM.

This is the same sort of attitude CAM proponents tried to incorporate into the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario’s (CPSO) draft policy on “non-allopathic” medicine, the subject of Dr. Novella’s post yesterday and an earlier post by Dr. Gorski. Fortunately, as noted in those posts, physicians pushed back against the recommendations. This resulted in changes to the more blatantly CAM-friendly proposals.

Dr. Novella recommended that “physicians, individually and as a profession, should actively advocate for and promote the science-based standard in medicine — in academia, regulation, and practice.” In publishing this supplement, Pediatrics has certainly failed physicians and the profession in this regard.

What's the harm?  As always, let the buyer beware.