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COMMENT: Angela Coulter Killing the goose that laid the golden egg? BMJ 2003; 326: 1280-1281 [Full text]

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Yes to complementary therapy but not on the NHS

Yoav Tzabar   (20 June 2003)

Complementary or Alternative?

richard m maurice   (15 March 2004)

Yes to complementary therapy but not on the NHS 20 June 2003
Yoav Tzabar, Anaesthetist Carlisle, UK Send response to journal: Re: Yes to complementary therapy but not on the NHS	I believe that complementary therapy should not be available on the NHS. Nothing to do with efficacy or suspicion of alternatives. On the contrary, I think complementary therapies have great benefits and work well. I have experienced many of them myself. Best of all, they have few if any adverse effects. So good in fact, that if I could afford it, I would never stop going. And there lies the problem. Since nobody would want to stop having treatment and under the NHS, it would be free, lists would get longer and longer and no one would be discharged. I know because I have experienced this as a doctor in a pain clinic. The only way to limit demand is by making people pay for it. Competing interests:   I believe the BMA to be a waste of space.
Complementary or Alternative? 15 March 2004
richard m maurice, student university of central lancashire Send response to journal: Re: Complementary or Alternative?	In response to Angela Coulter's comment, I feel it should be noted that there seems to be some confusion about the difference between complementary and alternative medicines. To suggest that complementary and alternative medicines should or might be kept seperate from conventional medicine begs the question, what is complementary medicine complementing? Its very name suggests the therapies offered are complementing another treatment, and these are the conventional medicine treatments the patient is already recieving. Therefore to keep them seperate would simply negate the 'complementing' part of the therapy turning it to alternative. Angela Coulter also goes on to suggest that complementary and alternative therapies are used alongside conventional treatments. If the therapies are used adjunctively or alongside conventional medicine how can they termed as alternative? To move the use of complementary medicine further towards acceptance by conventional medicine must mean that there is differentiation between complementary and alternative therapies. Competing interests: None declared