Opposing Views

Does "Evidence-Based Medicine" Diminish the Physician's Role? - A roundtable discussion of whether EBM is "microfascism", as recently charged by a former NIH director and others. Published: 01/05/07. [Requires registration.]

Evidence-Based Medicine in the Intensive Care Unit: A Debate - Pro and con viewpoints on the question of whether EBM erodes the doctor-patient relationship and adversely affects the artistic and creative aspects of medicine. From conference held March 18 - 21, 2003. [Requires registration.]

False dichotomies: EBM, clinical freedom, and the art of medicine - A critical evaluation of the oft-cited criticism of evidence-based medicine as constraining clinical freedom and potentially compromising patient welfare. Published: 03/01/05. [Requires registration.]

Deconstructing the evidence-based discourse in health sciences: truth, power and fascism - The article that initiated the critical controversy surrounding the claim that EBM represents an exclusionary "regime of power". [PDF] (April 1, 2006)

Is Evidence-Based Medicine Relevant to the Developing World? - Argues and discusses the reasons for the limited relevance of systematic reviews to frontline health care workers in developing countries. (May 31, 2005)

Criticisms of evidence-based medicine - Brief review of five major types of criticisms of EBM. [PDF] (June 30, 2004)

A categorization and analysis of the criticisms of Evidence-Based Medicine - An examination and assessment of a decade of criticisms of EBM. [PDF] (January 1, 2004)

A philosophical analysis of the evidence-based medicine debate - A review of criticisms of EBM as being founded on a lack of clarity and precision by EBM's own proponents. [PDF] (July 21, 2003)

The pragmatic randomised controlled trial - A critique of conventional randomized controlled trials methodology, and an attempt to incorporate more complex interventions via a new 'pragmatic RCT'. (August 1, 2002)

The case against 'the evidence': a different perspective on evidence-based medicine - A psychiatrist's critique that over-emphasis on evidence-based medicine oversimplifies the complex and interpersonal nature of clinical care. (January 1, 2002)

Evidence-based medicine: a commentary on common criticisms - Review of the most commonly leveled charges against, and misperceptions about, evidence-based medicine, with proposed solutions to real limitations. (October 3, 2000)