The growing popularity of alternative therapies poses challenging questions for the medical establishment and the state. By confronting these questions, makes an important contribution to current debates about health care. The contributors, who are all experts in the fields of health care, social science and the law, focus on the relationship between patient and healer in both orthodox and non-orthodox forms of healing practice. They consider whether different forms of healing involve widely differing conceptions of the role and responsibilities of the healer, and deal with topical issues such as medical litigation, codes of ethics for complementary practitioners, and co-operation between orthodox and complementary medicine.