Healthy Skepticism Library item: 14879

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Publication type: Journal Article

Ashcroft RE.
Current epistemological problems in evidence based medicine.
J Med Ethics 2004; 30:131–135
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=1733829&blobtype=pdf

Abstract:

Evidence based medicine has been a topic of considerable controversy in medical and health care circles
over its short lifetime, because of the claims made by its exponents about the criteria used to assess the
evidence for or against the effectiveness of medical interventions. The central epistemological debates
underpinning the debates about evidence based medicine are reviewed by this paper, and some areas are
suggested where further work remains to be done. In particular, further work is needed on the theory of
evidence and inference; causation and correlation; clinical judgment and collective knowledge; the
structure of medical theory; and the nature of clinical effectiveness.