Complementary and alternative medicine in Czech healthcare from an ethical perspective: review of Czech scientific literature
Abstract
Theoretical background: Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is considerably popular worldwide. Many countries are integrating selected CAM methods into their healthcare systems (e.g., Switzerland, Germany, UK). The integration of selected CAM methods into national healthcare systems is also supported by the World Health Organization in the document WHO Strategy for Traditional Medicine 2014-2023. So-called integrative healthcare, which combines selected CAM methods with conventional treatment in a healthcare setting, is not encountered in the Czech Republic, as it is, for example, in the UK. This raises the question, of to what extent it is ethically desirable to integrate or not to integrate CAM methods into the healthcare system.
Aim of the article: The aim of the literature review is to identify key ethical issues that are being addressed in the field of CAM domestically and then to reflect on the identified topics in the context of current international developments in CAM.
Methods: The author conducted a non-systematic review of the domestic literature focusing on ethical aspects of CAM in general, with particular attention to the topic of integrating CAM into healthcare.
Results: There is a very small number of publications on CAM in general and ethics in the context of CAM. Among other things, the literature review pointed out that rather than proper ethical analyses, the Czech literature is characterized by specific opinions on the subject by the professional community. There is also a certain polarity of opinion and a lack of constructive dialogue leading to a concrete action.