RESOURCES

Publications by Dr. Cohen

Michael H. Cohen and Kathi J. Kemper
Complementary Therapies in Pediatrics: A Legal Perspective
Pediatrics, Mar 2005; 115: 774 - 780.

Increasing use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies such as chiropractic, massage therapy, and herbal medicine, raises questions about the clinically appropriate use of CAM in pediatrics. Nonjudicious use of CAM therapies may cause either direct harm or, by creating an unwarranted financial and emotional burden, indirect harm. When advising patients concerning CAM therapies, pediatricians face 2 major legal risks: medical malpractice and professional discipline. Pediatricians can incorporate these considerations into advising and clinical decision-making about CAM therapies to address the best interest of the pediatric patient while helping to manage potential liability risk. This article provides a suggested framework, including asking the following questions: (1) Do parents elect to abandon effective care when the child's condition is serious or life-threatening? (2) Will use of the CAM therapy otherwise divert the child from imminently necessary conventional treatment? (3) Are the CAM therapies selected known to be unsafe and/or ineffective? (4) Have the proper parties consented to the use of the CAM therapy? (5) Is the risk-benefit ratio of the proposed CAM therapy acceptable to a reasonable, similarly situated clinician, and does the therapy have at least minority acceptance or support in the medical literature? Such an approach ideally can help guide the pediatrician toward clinical conduct that is clinically responsible, ethically appropriate, and legally defensible.

Adams KE, Cohen MH, Jonsen AR, Eisenberg DM. Ethical considerations of complementary and alternative medical therapies in conventional medical settings. Ann Intern Med, 2002;137:660-664.

Cohen MH. Malpractice considerations affecting the clinical integration of complementary and alternative medicine. Curr Prac of Med 1999;2:4:87-89.

Cohen MH, Eisenberg DM. Potential physician malpractice liability associated with complementary/integrative medical therapies. Ann Intern Med; 2002;136:596-603.

Cohen MH. Reconstructing the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing as a tort. Calif L Rev 1985;73:1291-1331.

Cohen MH. A fixed star in health care reform: the emerging paradigm of holistic healing. Ariz State L J 1995;27:79-173. (available at http://www.rosenthal.hs.columbia.edu/legal/cohen.fixedstar.contents.html.)

Cohen MH. Toward a bioethics of compassion. Ind L Rev 1995;28:667-668.

Cohen MH. Holistic health care: including complementary and alternative medicine in insurance and regulatory schemes. Ariz L Rev 1996;38:83-164.

Cohen MH. Complementary and integrative medical therapies, the FDA and the NIH: Definitions and regulation. Derm Ther 2003;16:77-84.

Cohen MH. Regulation, religious experience, and epilepsy: a lens on complementary therapies. Epilepsy Behav 2003;4:6:602-606.

Cohen M, Schacter S. Facilitating IRB consideration of protocols involving complementary and alternative medical therapies. Clin Researcher 2004;4:3:2-6.

Cohen MH. Reconstructing the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing as a tort. Calif L Rev 1985;73:1291-1331.

Cohen MH. A fixed star in health care reform: the emerging paradigm of holistic healing. Ariz State L J 1995;27:79-173.

Cohen MH. Toward a bioethics of compassion. Ind L Rev 1995;28:667-668.

Cohen MH. Holistic health care: including complementary and alternative medicine in insurance and regulatory schemes. Ariz L Rev 1996;38:83-164.

Cohen MH. Malpractice and vicarious liability for providers of complementary and alternative medicine. Bender's Health Care Monthly (July) 1996;3-12.

Cohen MH. U.S. dietary supplement regulation: belief systems and legal rules. Hastings W Law J 2000:11:1:3-21.

Cohen MH. Advising health care institutions integrating complementary & alternative medical providers. Orange County Lawyer. July 2000:16-18.

Cohen MH. The risk of malpractice liability in credentialing complementary & alternative medical providers. Orange County Lawyer. April 2000:16-18.

Cohen MH. The emerging field of law and complementary and alternative medicine. Orange County Lawyer. Feb. 2000:30-32.

Cohen MH. Of rogues and regulation: a review of Accommodating pluralism: the role of complementary & alternative medicine. Vt L Rev 2003;27:3:801-815.

Cohen MH. Healing at the borderland of medicine and religion: regulating potential abuse of authority by spiritual healers. 18:2 J Law & Relig 2004;373-426.

Cohen MH, Ruggie M. Integrating complementary and alternative medical therapies in conventional medical settings: legal quandaries and potential policy models. Cinn L Rev 2004; 72(2):

Cohen MH. Negotiating integrative medicine: applying negotiation analysis to decision-making involving complementary and alternative medical therapies [Negotiation Journal, in press 2004].

Eisenberg DM, Cohen MH, Hrbek A, Grayzel J, van Rompay MI, Cooper, RA. Credentialing complementary and alternative medical providers. Ann Intern Med, in press, 2002.

Ernst EE, Cohen MH. Informed consent in complementary and alternative medicine. Arch Intern Med 2001;161:19:2288-2292.

Ernst EE, Cohen MH, Stone J. Ethical problems arising in evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine. J Med Ethics 2004 [in press].

Kemper K, Cohen MH. Ethics in complementary medicine: new light on old principles. Contemporary Pediatrics 2004;21:3:61-72.

Studdert DM, Eisenberg DM, Miller FH, Curto DA, Kaptchuk TJ, Brennan TA, Medical malpractice implications of alternative medicine [see comments], 280 JAMA 1610 (1998).

Cohen MH. Complementary and alternative medicine: legal boundaries and regulatory perspectives. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press; 1998; 180 pages.

Examining state medical licensing laws, scope of practice boundaries, malpractice liability, food and drug law, professional discipline, third-party reimbursement, and other legal and regulatory issues, this book suggests how regulatory structures might evolve to support a comprehensive and balanced approach to health, one that permits integration of orthodox medicine with complementary and alternative medicine, yet continues to protect patients from fraudulent and dangerous treatments. http://www.press.jhu.edu/books/.

Cohen MH. Beyond complementary medicine: legal and ethical perspectives on health care and human evolution. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; 2000; 214 pages. *

The book offers providers and policymakers vitally important information by addressing questions such as credentialing, malpractice, informed consent, and liability for referrals. The book describes both practical strategies for minimizing liability, as well as the necessary future evolution of the legal and regulatory structure. The book also probes uncharted ethical and bioethical issues in complementary medicine and integrative health care, and the connection between law, medicine, and spirituality. http://www.press.umich.edu/.

Cohen MH. Future medicine: ethical dilemmas, regulatory challenges, and therapeutic pathways to health and human healing in human transformation. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; in press, 2002; 350 pages.*

Future Medicine is an investigation into the clinical, legal, ethical, and regulatory changes occurring in our health care system as a result of the developing field of complementary and alternative medical therapies, and describes the likely evolution of the legal system and the health care system at the crossroads of developments in the way human beings care for body, mind, emotions, environment, and soul. In concise, evocative strokes, the book lays the foundation for a novel synthesis of ideas from such diverse disciplines as transpersonal psychology, political philosophy, and bioethics. Providing an exploration of regulatory conundrums faced by many healing professionals, the book articulates the value of expanding our concept of health care regulation to consider not only goals of fraud control and quality assurance, but also health care freedom, integration of global medicine, and human transformation. http://www.press.umich.edu/.

Other Resources

Dumoff, A. ACM: An International Perspective. Alternative/Complementary Therapies 2003; 9(1):45-48

Dumoff, A. Minimizing Malpractice Risk (A Review). Integrative Medicine Consult 2002;4(8):88-89.

Dumoff, A. Coding System for Alternative and Complementary Therapies: It’s Not as Easy as ABC. Alternative/Complementary Therapies 2002;8(4):246-252

Dumoff, A. New Codes for CAM: HHS Review Could Make Them A Reality. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine 2002; 8(4):32-36.

Dumoff, A. The Federation of State Medical Boards’ New Guidelines for ACM Practice: Improvements and Concerns. Alternative/Complementary Therapies 2002;8(5):303-309

Dumoff, A. New FSMB CAM Guidelines: Significant Steps in the Right Direction. The Integrative medicine Consult 4(9):97, 102-103.

Dumoff, A. Protecting ACM Physicians from Undeserved Discipline: Legislative Efforts in Maryland. Alternative/Complementary Therapies 2002;8-2:120-126

Dumoff, A. A Collision Between Principles and Law: A Case Study in Why Integration is So [Damn] Difficult. Alternative/Complementary Therapies 2002;8:(1):8-9

Dumoff, A. Is It Merck or is it Pharmanex? The Regulatory Tale of Lovastatin and Cholestin. Alternative/Complementary Therapies 2001;7(5):310-314

Dumoff, A. Legal Aspects of Integrative Medicine: A Brief Look at LifeWorks Wellness Center. Alternative/Complementary Therapies 2001;7(4):244-245

Dumoff, A. Creating the New Medicine: Harmonizing Diverse Viewpoints. Alternative/Complementary Therapies 2001;7(3):174-179

Dumoff, A. Balancing Experience Versus Paradigm: Moving Toward the New Medicine. Alternative/Complementary Therapies 2001;7(2):112-116

Dumoff, A. An Open Letter to the White House Commission of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy, Part 1: Suggestions for Federal Policy & Part 2: Suggestions for State Policy. Alternative/Complementary Therapies 2000;6(5):249-257 & 6(6):355-357

Dumoff, A. State Medical Board Prohibition’s on Physician Sale of Supplements. Physician Consult 2000;

Dumoff, A. Medical Board Prohibitions Against Physician Supplements Sales. Alternative/Complementary Therapies 2000;6(4):226-236

Dumoff, A. CPT Coding for ACM Services: A Short Course. Alternative/Complementary Therapies 2000;6(3):152-161

Dumoff, A. Defining“Disease:”The Latest Struggle for Turf in Dietary Supplement Regulation. Alternative/Complementary Therapies 2000;6(2):95-104

Dumoff, A. Regulating Professional Relationships: Kickback and Self-Referral Restrictions on Collaborative Practice. Alternative/ Complementary Therapies 2000;6(1):41-46

Dumoff, A. Understanding the Kassebaum-Kennedy Health Care Act: Addressing Legitimate Concerns and Irrational Fears. Alternative/Complementary Therapies 1997;3(4):309-313

Dumoff, A. Legislation versus Self-Regulation in the Somatic Practices Field: Comments from the Editor. Alternative/Complementary Therapies 1997;3(3):220-222

Dumoff, A. Expanding the Office of Alternative Medicine into the Center for Integral Medicine and Creating Access to Medical Treatment; Two Agendas for the 105th Congress. Alternative/ Complementary Therapies, 1997;3(1):59-63

Dumoff, A. Protecting Your Practice: Myth v. Fact. Alternative/Complementary Therapies 1996;2(3):186-191

Dumoff, A. Malpractice Liability of Alternative/Complementary Health Care Providers: A View From the Trenches. Alternative/Complementary Therapies, 1995;(1(4):248-253 & 1(5):333-334

Dumoff, A. Including Alternative Providers in Managed Care—Managing the Malpractice Risk (Part I & II). Medical Interface (May & June, 1995).

Dumoff, A. Private Right of Action, Administrative Law, Stein, et al. (1987).

Dietary Supplements Health Education Act (1994).

Executive Summary, Final Report, White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy (2002).

Federation of State Medical Boards, Guidelines for Complementary and Alternative Therapies in Medical Practice (2002) (available at www.fsmb.org).