CAMLAW : Complementary And Alternative Medicine Law Blog

Electronic medical records were a novelty only a few years ago, but now are becoming increasingly standard.

The phrase comes from: (a) a Zen monk after hours of meditation; (b) Yoda; (c) a hospital executive.

Hospital CEO Paul Levy wants to know if his Running a Hospital Blog is reaching the public.

Ross Memorial Hospital in Ontario, Canada, has given delivery privileges to five midwives.

Hospitals use televisions to quiet, calm, sedate (?), and ostensibly assist suffering patients.

Hospital executive Paul Levy of Beth Israel Deaconess runs a blog on health care, medicine, hospitals, and whatever else falls in those domains.

A study of policies in 39 randomly selected academic medical centers integrating complementary and alternative medical (“CAM”) services into conventional care concluded few had consensus policies concerning CAM use.

Mount Royal College in Canada will open Canada's first post-secondary institute dedicated to advancing complementary and alternative health, together with a 24-hour phoneline to dispense information about 'scientifically proven alternative health options.'

The National Acupuncture Foundation has just released Legal Issues in Integrative Medicine: A Guide for Clinicians, Hospitals, and Patients.

Guest columnist Laura Stevens discusses proposed Utah legislation that will allow parents to make medical decisions for their children involving CAM therapies that are reasonable and prudent, without fearing retaliation in the form of an abuse and neglect proceeding or action by a state child welfare agency.

Some may find support for the claim that CAM and conventional care are subjected to a "double standard" for proof of safety and efficacy in a new Minnesota report that 20 people died and four people were seriously disabled in 99 different hospital incidents in 15-month period.

Should hospitals care what their patients eat in the hospital cafeteria after a procedure? Once the tubes and carefully monitored, insurance-reimbursed pharmaceuticals are poured into the veins, is it okay to slather corn syruppy tomato sauce on a Chicken McNugget?

A new study published in the American Journal of Medicine by colleague Mark Hall, JD, Professor of Law and Public Health at Wake Forest University School of Law, found that "there is little evidence these [patient protection] laws have much impact on providers' economic concerns."

Audio coverage of the policy report by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use by the American Public will be available through a live audio webcast that will begin at 11:00 am EDT on January 12th.

It's important to remember that a variety of personnel may be offering CAM services: physicians; allied health providers (such as nurses); and CAM providers (such as acupuncturists).

Physicians typically get privileges as members of the hospital staff; such privileges will need to be modified to add specified CAM therapies. This may be heavily contested or negotiated with the hospital's medical executive committee.

How Should Hospitals Handle Dietary Supplements? This is a complex question, in part because it requires consideration of patient demands, administrative concerns, legal issues, ethical questions, and provider predilections. Often physicians find themselves in the middle of this complex equation, able to satisfy neither patients, nor their administrators, nor themselves.

Patients are asking physicians and hospitals to provide specific CAM therapies as part of their conventional care. How should hospital administrators and staff respond? How can they meet patient interests while maintaining patient safety (and managing liability concerns)?