As a nice coincidence (and as a counterpart from the case first described), I am now reading the book &quot;evidence based healthcare&quot; from Professor Muir, specifically in the chapter 7 called &quot;Evidence-Based Litigation&quot; there is an interesting passage, I quote:<br>
<br>&quot;five years ago I wrote to The Lancet speculating that parents might begin to sue the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists because it had taken so long to promote use of prenatal steroids, which research had shown reduced the risk that premature babies would die or survive handicapped...&quot;<br>
<br>&quot;as a potential patient, I will certainly consider suing if I am not offered forms of care which have been shown to be effective for people experiencing heart attacks, strokes and trauma&quot;<br><br>This is from professor Chalmers in a letter you can see here:<br>
<br><br><a href="http://www.hsj.co.uk/patients-should-sue-when-available-research-isnt-put-into-practice/32841.article">http://www.hsj.co.uk/patients-should-sue-when-available-research-isnt-put-into-practice/32841.article</a><br>
<br><br>I think we all agree that practice guidelines must be used in context with individual clinician expertise an patient values. <br>Sadly, on my workshops, I often ask participants (at the begining of the workshop) their definition of EBM, and to my surprise many of them consider EBM as an strict adherence to guidelines and articles!<br>
<br><br>The matter is: We must effectively communicate this to our students/apprentices of EBM and prevent that they misunderstand the misconception of strictly applying evidence to their patients. <br><br><br>Carlos A. Cuello-García, MD<br>
Director, Centre for Evidence-Based Practice-Tecnologico de Monterrey <br>Cochrane-ITESM coordinator. Professor of Paediatrics and Clinical Research <br>Avda. Morones Prieto 3000 pte. Col. Doctores. CITES 3er. piso,Monterrey NL, México. CP64710 <br>
Phone. +52(81)88882154 &amp; 2141. Fax: +52(81)88882019 <br><a href="http://www.cmbe.net">www.cmbe.net</a><br><a href="http://twitter.com/CharlieNeck">http://twitter.com/CharlieNeck</a><br>  <br>The content of this data transmission must not be considered an offer, proposal, understanding or agreement unless it is confirmed in a document signed by a legal representative of ITESM. The content of this data transmission is confidential and is intended to be delivered only to the addressees. Therefore, it shall not be distributed and/or disclosed through any means without the authorization of the original sender. If you are not the addressee, you are forbidden from using it, either totally or partially, for any purpose<br>