Evidence-based medicine and the law

Abstract

Over the last quarter of a century, evidence-based medicine (EBM) has emerged as the dominant paradigm for the diagnosis and treatment of illness. This expectation has now crossed over into the legal domain. Practitioners who provide clinical services on the basis of belief, intuition, and experience alone are increasingly marginalized and exposed to disciplinary and civil actions for engaging in provision of care that does not have a proper medico-scientific base. This chapter reviews a series of the United Kingdom and Australian disciplinary decisions that have resulted in adverse findings against medical practitioners for such forms of unorthodox and dubious clinical practice.