Healing at the borderland of medicine and religion /

Cohen practices law with a focus on complementary medicine and holds faculty appointments in medicine and public health at Harvard. This book builds on three of his earlier books that identified ways to incorporate complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) selectively into a more effective health care system. In this new work Cohen continues to essay problems and prospects of "negotiating medical pluralism" with a view to developing a new model for health care delivery that will respect the preferences of patients while simultaneously protecting the public from "health care rogues." Not surprisingly, his main concern is how to improve relations between proponents of the currently dominant allopathic system of medicine represented by the AMA, and practitioners of various kinds of alternative health care modalities that fall under the general classification of CAM. He attends to issues of scientific evidence of treatment effectiveness, the role of culturally specific values and traditional religious practices in determining the meaning of what constitutes health and healing, and practical concerns about practitioner and institutional liability. Cohen is a leading authority in an exceedingly important but as yet relatively uncharted area of discussion that has serious implications for our society. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. All levels. G. R. Thursby University of Florida

Cohen (health policy & management, Harvard Sch. of Public Health; Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Legal Boundaries and Regulatory Perspectives) follows his previously well-received books with a new look at the continuing growth in popularity of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). His legal and scholarly qualifications provide him with the ability to contemplate the legal, ethical, and regulatory aspects of how the integration of CAM can best proceed. What issues need to be discussed with patients? Are doctors liable if CAM therapies don't work? How can we continue to remain open to alternative forms of medical treatment while maintaining high-quality, safe, and ethical healthcare? Cohen devotes a large part of this book to issues surrounding spiritual healing techniques and how they may relate to current and future legal and regulatory policies. While lay readers may find the book too philosophical and esoteric at times, it raises many interesting points for academic discussion. Recommended for larger public and academic libraries, particularly those specializing in biomedical ethics and law.-Tina Neville, Univ. of South Florida at St. Petersburg Lib. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.