"Santosh Helekar" <chimbel...@...> wrote: I think ethics tend to be rescued by faith here....Both absence of evidence and evidence to the contrary are trounced by faith.
That is why faith healers, psychics, self-help/health gurus and snake oil salesmen are regarded as making a legal, ethical and honest living. Dear Santoshbab, What you have stated (above) may be right. However, the legality and ethics of patient-care is not based (I submit) on the pure faith of the patient and/or the good faith of the prescriber. Both ethics and law demand that the physician's practice of medicine be based on reasonable clinical standards.(In many countries, it is known as the 'modified' Bolam i.e. Bolitho standard). Anything less (like snake oil or faith healing) is liable to be considered 'clinical negligence'. Unfortunately, only registered doctors are required (in some countries)to have malpractice coverage, and stand to lose their medical registration, if guilty of serious or recurring negligence. Hence, the 'snake oil stuff' goes on. J