Patients and unrecognized treatments
This text has been translated using artificial intelligence.
The supervision of the medical profession and research is designed to promote the development of the best possible treatments, while ensuring the protection of the population.
Physicians must offer their patients treatments that are recognized by medical science. New treatments should only be used in research settings and according to protocols that meet strict standards.
Medical research, based on an empirical scientific approach, requires prudence, time and considerable resources. Rigour is essential if medical knowledge is to progress without patients taking too many risks and being deprived of treatments already recognized as beneficial.
Patients now have access to a wealth of information, via the media, on various treatments and products. However, this information does not necessarily come from reliable sources, and the treatments proposed may not have been recognized as effective and safe by the scientific and medical communities. It is therefore important to ask yourself the right questions before considering starting an unrecognized treatment.
The College of Physicians of Quebec emphasizes the importance for a patient who chooses an unrecognized treatment to discuss it with their physician.
The College of Physicians of Quebec emphasizes the importance for a patient who chooses an unrecognized treatment to discuss it with their physician. They will then be able to provide the relevant information to help the patient make an informed treatment choice.
This discussion would, in some cases, jointly ensure that unrecognized treatments, even if they do not present major risks, do not replace medical treatments deemed more appropriate. In other cases, it would help prevent potentially dangerous interactions with an already prescribed treatment.