Obstacles to Integrative Medicine: The Case of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Taiwan

The model of regulations on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in Taiwan is often categorized as “equalization” or “non-discriminatory,” though in reality the TCM practice is unequally regulated or even marginalized. The thesis of this Article is that medical licensing law in Taiwan played a major role in marginalizing TCM in the medical system and thus delayed the acceptance of TCM by orthodox medicine. First, this Article will describe the “separate-but-equal” doctrine in determining the scope-of-practice issue of TCM regulations. The doctrine exclusively defines the practice boundaries of TCM doctors, thereby obstructing the