Potions, Promises and Paradoxes: Complementary and Alternative Medicine and Malpractice Law in Canada

Faculty of Law and Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, and Research Director, Health Law Institute, Un ivers ity of Alberta. Colin Feasby, LL.M ., J.S .D. Candid ate, C olum bia U niver sity. W e would like to thank Tracy Bailey and N ina Haw kins for their valuable assistance and the Alberta Heritage Foun dation for M edical Research fo r their continued su pport. See, for example, Canada, Natura l Health Pro ducts: A New Vision (Report of the Standing Comm ittee on Health) (Ottawa: Library of Parliament, 1998) at 33. See O. Caspi, K . Koffler & L. Sechre st, “Use of Alternative Medicine by W omen with Breast C ancer” Letter (1999) 341 N. Eng. J. Med. 115 5 at 1155 , wh ere it is suggested tha t the choice to use a CAM is “a marker of ou r failure as physicians to fulfill the obligation to ‘cure som etimes, heal often, com fort always.’” K. Foss, “The New D octors Without Borders” The Globe and Mail (14 December 1999) R10 at R10. See also C. Marwick, “Complementary Medicine Congress Draws a Crowd” (1995) 274 JAMA 106. P. M ark, “Don’t let message be ‘hopelessness’” The M edical Post 34 (27 January 1998) 32. C. Gray, “Growing popularity of complementary medicine leads to national organization for MD s” (1997) 157 CM AJ 186 at 187. The organ ization was founded in 1 996 in Banff , Alberta and now has over 200 mem bers: P. W ysong, “New organization will address complementary medicine” The M edical Post 33 (6 May 1997) 5. See generally, M.J. Verhoef & L.R. Sutherland, “General Practitioners’ Assessment of and Interest in Alternative Medicine in Canada” (1995) 41 Soc. Sci. Med. 511, where it is noted that there is an increased awareness among general practitioners about alternative medicine. R. Mackie, “Alternative medicine wins doctors’ support” The Glo be and M ail (23 September 1997) A5. Potions, Promises and Paradoxes: Complementary and Alternative Medicine and Malpractice Law in Canada