> Speaking of this, how do the rest of you deal with parents who seem > determined to try alternative treatments in general? I for one think you > have to do this on a case by case basis. Clearly if the treatment is > dangerous or extremely costly and unproven, a strong stance against up to > terminating the relationship is the only logical approach, but many times > things are much more murky than that. One way that it often gets murky is when patients want you as their primary care physician to refer them for one of these alternative treatments so that their PPO or HMO will pay for it. I have found that a useful way to deal with this is to explain to the parents that I am not familiar with the use of this particular treatment for their child's problem. Before I can make such a referral, I need to know more about it. I ask them to have the person they want to see send me any studies that have been done that show how this treatment helps. By doing this I am not refusing to make the referral and one of these days I may learn about a treatment I was not aware of.