Should we refuse requests for complementary therapies?

Abstract

Health care providers sometimes receive requests from patients or families for complementary therapies. When should they accede to such requests, and when should they refuse them? This is not a problem peculiar to complementary therapies. It arises whenever patients or families request conventional therapies which health care professionals judge problematic in the circumstances. What follows is a set of rationalized recommendations about when health care professionals should and should not honour requests for therapies, whether they be conventional or complementary.