Evidence-based Medicine (EBM) is feared to become a kind of cook-book medicine that has nothing to do with the traditional skills and ethics.

This volume shows the contribution EBM makes and might make to medical practice and health policy. It describes as many viewpoints as possible with a focus on the ethical issues that are at stake in this process.

It shows how EBM has developed from an internal medical issue to an instrument for health policy. It is the outcome of the European Project "Ethical Issues of Evidence Based Practice in Medicine and Health Care" and gives insight into the ethical background of the debate on the role of EBM in various areas of medicine, including clinical practice, medical education, medical research, health policy and medical sociology.

Inhalt
The Ethical Debate on Evidence-based Medicine Introduction to the Volume.- Regulating Health Care. The Development of Guidelines in Medical Practice and Health Policy.- Evidence-based Medicine and Power Shifts in Health Care Systems.- Beyond Legitimate Science: The Case for Policy-Related Science.- Teaching Evidence-based Medicine.- Evidence-based Medicine and Clinical Guidelines in Cardiology. Promoting Science, Practice, or Bureaucracy?.- Are Particular Patients Disadvantaged by EBM? Focus on Frail Elderly Patients.- Evidence-based Medicine in Mental Health: Towards Better and Fairer Treatment?.- Current Epistemological Problems in Evidence-based Medicine.- Coordinating the Norms and Values of Medical Research, Medical Practice and Patient Worlds. The Ethics of Evidence-based Medicine in 'Boundary Fields of Medicine'.- Research Ethics and Evidence-based Medicine.- Clinical Evaluative Research: Which Patients Benefit, How and When? A Contribution to a European Discussion.- Defining a Proper Background for Discussing Evidence-based Medicine.- Evidence-based Medicine and Equity: The Exclusion of Disadvantaged Groups.- The Role of Formal Outcome Evaluations in Health Policy Making: A Normative Perspective.- The Usefulness of Formal Outcome Evaluations in Health Policy Making: Looking for the Baby in the Bathwater.- Evidence-based Medicine and Managed Care.- Recommendations from the Evibase Project.