[The concept of complementary and alternative medicine from the perspective of the philosophy of science and bioethics]

Abstract

Decisions about therapeutic interventions to be made by physicians, patients, and healthcare purchasers essentially depend on their classification in a credible context of justification, especially in a world dominated by contradicting experts. To some extent, this framing is done by sorting terms and their undertones, including the case of so-called CAM measures. In this paper, the authors reflect on ways to deal with the term CAM and the underlying supply-side approaches to healthcare from a primarily science-oriented perspective.

Keywords: CAM concept; CAM-Begriff; Complementary and alternative medicine; Framing-Effekte; Komplementär- und Alternativmedizin; Patientendienlichkeit; Rechtfertigungskontext; Wirksamkeit; Wissenschaftsorientierung; context of justification; conventional medicine; effectiveness; framing; irrational and doctrinaire CAM interventions; irrational-doktrinäre CAM-Maßnahmen; konventionelle Medizin; patient benefit; scientific orientation.