Buy new:

$18.48

List Price: $22.99

Save: $4.51 (20%)

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns

FREE delivery Tuesday, January 24 if you spend $25 on items shipped by Amazon

Or fastest delivery Friday, January 20

Select delivery location

In Stock.

As an alternative, the Kindle eBook is available now and can be read on any device with the free Kindle app.

[{"displayPrice":"$18.48","priceAmount":18.48,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"18","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"48","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"zi6uDlB3cPwc2Hn0WupGS1xWOePf23i3rG2nfIbZMd64cc%2B15W%2BDQ8g%2BQTazNWFonnq%2FqrJoHaUO4d7Er7qDk5FpaTi%2FCqx4mN61BTFvH7I%2BfYBBk1b55uEa4XluXFPCndrWPppcFk%2F5EBwAOyWBIg%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW"}]

$$18.48 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Secure transaction

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Details

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Return policy: Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt

Add a gift receipt for easy returns

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Other Sellers on Amazon

Added

Not added

$23.34
& FREE Shipping

Sold by: Book Depository US

Added

Not added

$19.62
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: allnewbooks

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 2 images

Follow the Author

Kevin Smith

More Harm than Good?: The Moral Maze of Complementary and Alternative Medicine 1st ed. 2018 Edition

by Edzard Ernst (Author), Kevin Smith (Author)

11 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$18.99

—

Paperback

"Please retry"

$18.48

$14.54

Kindle
$7.79 - $18.99 Read with Our Free App
Paperback
$18.47 - $18.48

5 Used from $14.54 13 New from $18.48

Enhance your purchase

This book reveals the numerous ways in which moral, ethical and legal principles are being violated by those who provide, recommend or sell ‘complementary and alternative medicine’ (CAM). The book analyses both academic literature and internet sources that promote CAM. Additionally the book presents a number of brief scenarios, both hypothetical and real-life, about individuals who use CAM or who fall prey to ethically dubious CAM practitioners. The events and conundrums described in these scenarios could happen to almost anyone. Professor emeritus of complementary medicine Edzard Ernst together with bioethicist Kevin Smith provide a thorough and authoritative ethical analysis of a range of CAM modalities, including acupuncture, chiropractic, herbalism, and homeopathy. This book could and should interest all medical professionals who have contact to complementary medicine and will be an invaluable reference for patients deliberating which course of treatment to adopt.

ISBN-10

3319699407
ISBN-13

978-3319699400
Edition

1st ed. 2018
Publisher

Springer
Publication date

January 18, 2018
Language

English
Dimensions

6.1 x 0.57 x 9.25 inches
Print length

248 pages
See all details

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

This book reveals the numerous ways in which moral, ethical and legal principles are being violated by those who provide, recommend or sell ‘complementary and alternative medicine’ (CAM). The book analyses both academic literature and internet sources that promote CAM. Additionally the book presents a number of brief scenarios, both hypothetical and real-life, about individuals who use CAM or who fall prey to ethically dubious CAM practitioners. The events and conundrums described in these scenarios could happen to almost anyone. Professor emeritus of complementary medicine Edzard Ernst together with bioethicist Kevin Smith provide a thorough and authoritative ethical analysis of a range of CAM modalities, including acupuncture, chiropractic, herbalism, and homeopathy. This book could and should interest all medical professionals who have contact to complementary medicine and will be an invaluable reference for patients deliberating which course of treatment to adopt.

About the Author

Edzard Ernst has researched all aspects of alternative medicine for more than 20 years. He and his team have published well over 1 000 peer-reviewed papers and many books on the subject. His work has been awarded more than a dozen prizes, including the John Maddox Prize 2016. He retired about three years ago and is emeritus professor of the University of Exeter. He continues to play an active role in the public debate on alternative medicine.

Kevin Smith is a senior lecturer at Abertay University, Scotland. He researches and teaches in the related areas of bioethics and genetics. He has published a number of highly regarded academic papers in medical ethics, on subjects ranging from the ethics of gene therapy to the ethics of homeopathy.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Springer; 1st ed. 2018 edition (January 18, 2018)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 248 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 3319699407
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-3319699400
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.1 x 0.57 x 9.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,580,585 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #585 in Alternative Medicine (Books)
- #1,350 in Ethics
- #1,560 in General (Books)

Customer Reviews:
11 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Kevin Smith

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

3.7 out of 5

11 global ratings

5 star		45%
4 star		13%
3 star		19%
2 star		11%
1 star		12%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Björn Geir Leifsson

Perhaps Professor Ernst's most important book

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 11, 2018

Verified Purchase

I cannot wait to lay eyes on Edzard Ernsts latest book, SCAM: So-Called Alternative Medicine (Societas) .

But before I start reading SCAM I will have to finish reading this book, More Harm than Good?: The Moral Maze of Complementary and Alternative Medicine over again. This time slowly and with deliberation. I have it both in paperback and Kindle versions.
Professor Edzard Ernst is perhaps the most knowledgable man in the world when it comes to alternative medicine and related matters. I can recommend all of his books. They are well written, readable and entertaining.
More Harm than Good? is perhaps Professor Ernst's most important book. It deals with a complex enigma that has for many years fuelled my interest in so called alternative medicine, the question whether the promotion and practice of CAM - Complementary or Alternative Medicine can ever be defensible or ethical.
Professor Ernst and co-author Kevin Smith systematically and with interesting examples, explore this question from many angles and support their conclusions clearly. In my opinion, Ernst and Smith have in this book confirmed my own notion, that CAM is by definition never defensible and never ethical. They do this fairly and squarely with easily understood reasoning and without prejudice.
To be defensible it would have to be useful, to be efficacious. But if it were so, it would, as postulated in 'Minchin's law', no longer be CAM.

Tim Minchin set to verse to this logical verity in his satyrical short-film "Storm":

"By definition", I begin
"Alternative Medicine", I continue
"Has either not been proved to work,
Or been proved not to work.
You know what they call "alternative medicine"
That’s been proved to work?
Medicine."

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Michael Kenny

A MUST read for anyone investigating ‘alternative medicine’ and it’s often dubious research credentials.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 23, 2018

Verified Purchase

Having just re-read, and with the intention of innumerable ‘re-reads’….More Harm Than Good (the moral maze...) I’m just beginning to wrap my brain around how amazing, succinct, insightful and THOROUGH it is!!
It is brilliant in all regards….not the least of which is its’ ability to create real understanding of otherwise typically overwhelming topics e.g. statistics, ethics etc.
If anyone attempts to investigate an “alternative medicine” treatment, at ANY level, and does NOT buy this book then shame on you, and: “you deserve to get swindled”!!
The answers you need are ALL here! Bravo!

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Terence M. Hines

Alternative medicine is a fraud.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 24, 2018

Verified Purchase

This book is an excellent critique of the unethical nature of alternative medicine.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

jle

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 6, 2018

Verified Purchase

truth

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Brian R. Warren

Interesting dissection of CAM modalities from a philosophical perspective

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 10, 2022

Verified Purchase

Ernst and Smith review the evidence in favor of a variety of so-called complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) techniques from a largely utilitarian (to put it in Salvation Army terms—“doing the most good”) perspective. Unsurprisingly, given the lead author’s previous body of work surrounding this topic, they draw the conclusion that in virtually all cases, there is no real utility in these methods nor is there an ethical justification for their use. The volume loses one star for two reasons: one, there are a prodigious number of grammatical and mechanical errors in the text itself; and two, the authors dance around but never forcefully endorse the obvious conclusion from their work—that these practices, far from being given the mask of legitimacy by being provided a veneer of regulatory oversight and being taught in degree-granting institutions, should for the sake of decency and the public good, be banned forthwith.

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English

A.J.

Underlying Philosophy is Unexamined.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 10, 2019

Verified Purchase

More Harm Than Good (Amazon Review)
This book gives a vivid account of a view powerful in academic circles and among grant giving committees. According to this view the worth and validity of an approach to therapy should be based firstly on its plausibility, and that efforts at gathering evidence regarding efficacy should be limited to plausible therapies.
This view seems dangerous and unscientific. For me evidence should have first priority, giving a reality check against false ideas and prejudice that can lurk behind plausibility. For example, in academic circles it was widely held as implausible that women could benefit from training in a University or that any woman could be a world leading mathematician.
What seems plausible is very much bound up with one’s World View, and what is missing from the book is any critical examination of the underlying world view. A similar situation exists in religious fundamentalism.
The book is loaded with ethical judgements which are highly influenced by the opinions of the person making the pronouncement.
From what is described incidentally as plausible and implausible one gets the impression that the underlying world view is one of strict materialism.
Materialism is generally comfortable with materials, including pharmaceuticals and the human body, where careful objective measurements can be taken, but it struggles with subjective experience, ideas of purpose, as indeed with consciousness generally.
Discussion of evidence seems much influenced by the materialist ideology, with rejection of anything subjective, and denigration of anecdotal accounts and personal experience.
However, our prime source of information can be regarded as subjective. My basis for regarding myself as a sentient being, and not just a self-preserving automaton, is subjective and I suspect that the same is true for other people including the authors of this book.
Anecdotal evidence, like all forms of evidence, can be subject to error and the book details many of the errors that can make anecdotal evidence unreliable. Anecdotal evidence is disparaged in psychology and academic science in general, but in medicine anecdotes have an honoured place as illustrative case histories, particularly of harmful effects, and in the formation of a general medical history. Further, personal experience can be regarded as a series of anecdotes.
The authors regard randomized clinical trials (RCTS) as the best way of obtaining reliable information showing cause and effect in medicine, but, as Sandy Edwards states in her book “Healing in a Hospital”, RCTs were developed for the pharmaceutical industry and have limitations when applied to other areas such as counselling, healing, physiotherapy and surgical operations. These areas give special problems with control groups.
When doctors wish to take advantage of a clinical trial, they need to know that the population used in the trial is sufficiently representative of their patients. This is sometimes hard to determine as detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria are often omitted from summaries.
In my Amazon review of “Illusory Souls” by G. M. Woerlee I give some of my relevant background, and reasons for questioning materialist ideology. In my Amazon review of “The Intelligence Trap” by David Robson I offer references available for free downloading that give further strong evidence conflicting with materialism.
I am not alone in considering that materialist ideology gives a distorted and impoverished understanding of ourselves and the universe. In 2014 a group of internationally known scientists produced a Manifesto for a post-materialist science. More recently The Scientific and Medical Network have published “The Galileo Commission Report”, 2019, which gives a deep philosophical examination of materialist ideology and underlines the need for a post-materialist view.
During my later years as a GP, two cancer patients in my group practice became involved with the non-material healing associated with Matthew Manning. One of the patients lived a further 17 years after her orthodox consultant had expected her to live only three months; the other cancer patient is still very much alive.
Around the end of 2010 I was given a book “The Energy Cure” by William Bengston describing a series of experiments on laboratory mice injected with a strain of cancer widely used in research that, up to the time of Bengston’s studies, had proved uniformly fatal to the mice within 28 days. In the first experiment all five experimental mice survived to live a normal mouse lifespan. The experimental treatment was non-material healing involving Image Cycling, a dogma-free mental technique different from hypnosis. All highly and fundamentally implausible from a materialist viewpoint! Follow-up experiments were performed by skeptical university volunteers who had been taught Image Cycling by Bengston. Twenty-four out of 28 of these experimental mice survived.
Bengston’s experiments indicate that non-material healing can be independent of any placebo effect.
I was impressed by the strength of the evidence and flabbergasted that I had seen no mention of it in my regular reading of medical literature.
This book gives me an insight into the sort of thinking that can shut out promising lines of enquiry: as the authors state on page 6 “Clinical trials research ought not to be conducted on fundamentally implausible therapies”.
Evidence that non-material healing is sometimes effective suggests to me how people might be attracted to train in and practice complimentary or alternative approaches to therapy. Imagine a young woman with undeveloped healing talents who has had profound life-changing subjective experiences, and who is keen to help sick people get better. She might well turn away from having her experiences rubbished by mainstream materialist tutors, and find an alternative approach such as homeopathy training more sympathetic. She might then find that some of the homeopathic thinking, although crazy by materialist standards, nevertheless helped her focus and develop her healing abilities to achieve her worthy intentions.
So far, I have been consistently negative about the views expressed in this book, however there are four areas in which I agree with the authors:
1. We are all striving towards truth as we see it.
2. Ethical considerations are of deep importance, but one needs to be aware that they are much influenced by one’s opinions and philosophy.
3. Personal autonomy and informed consent to treatment are of prime importance.
4. Having lived much of my life when measles, polio., whooping cough and mumps were endemic and giving rise to frequent epidemics, I greatly appreciate the value of vaccination; should there be any adverse reaction, it is likely to come at an expected time, to be non-infectious and very much less severe than the wild disease. In each case one should consider the risk/benefit and be guided by current mainstream medical advice.

4 people found this helpful

Jas12345

Excellent book on alternative medicine

Reviewed in Germany 🇩🇪 on March 24, 2018

Verified Purchase

Many people think that the so-called alternative medicine is "natural" and free of risk. Because of the demand, many practitioners offer alternative treatments, even if they are not convinced that the treatment has a specific effect.
This highly interesting book systematically explores the health risks and the moral and ethical implications of alternative medicine for both, patients and medical practitioners.

3 people found this helpful

Translate review to English

Gregor K.

If the titel refers to the book itself. Yes

Reviewed in Germany 🇩🇪 on July 8, 2018

Verified Purchase

If you think it makes sense to use arguments like the following, you probably won't have any problems with the book.
Example A (never happened like this). But it could have been. And in reality, it is much worse (no source reference to this statement).
Apart from that, this book is highly tendentious and far from a meaningful examination of the subject.
That the authors at the end of the book still point out that they are not paid by anyone to write something like this and they are certainly criticized by unfair people for it, has never come to me so far. Why write something like that? Just to remind Mr. Ernst says homeopathy is not plausible, but refers in articles to the fact that one can get cancer from it. The mental balancing act has to be managed first.

One person found this helpful

See all reviews

Buy new: $18.48

Other Sellers on Amazon

Follow the Author

More Harm than Good?: The Moral Maze of Complementary and Alternative Medicine 1st ed. 2018 Edition

Enhance your purchase

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

About the Author

Product details

Videos

About the author

Kevin Smith

Customer reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries

Buy new:

$18.48