The Public's Role in the Evaluation of Health Care Technology: The Conflict Over ECT
Creator
Heitman, Elizabeth
Bibliographic Citation
International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care. 1996 Fall; 12(4): 657-672.
Abstract
The use of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), controversial since its inception, offers an instructive case study on the challenge of addressing patients' perspectives in the evaluation of health care technology. Despite widespread professional acceptance of ECT, groups of former psychiatric patients have worked through the U.S. legal system to restrict and even ban ECT in the treatment of mental illness. This unusual lay participation in the regulation of health care illustrates how differing conceptions of evidence can affect the evaluation of technology. ECT provides a powerful example of the value of a more complex definition of the significant outcomes of treatment and the growing practice of outcomes assessment, especially as such research is used to shape health policy.
Date
1996Subject
Brain; Brain Pathology; Consent; Electroconvulsive Therapy; Evaluation; Government; Health; Health Care; Human Experimentation; Informed Consent; Illness; Mental Illness; Patient Care; Patient Participation; Patients; Patients' Rights; Physicians; Political Activity; Psychiatry; Public Opinion; Regulation; Research; Rights; Risks and Benefits; Selection for Treatment; State Government; Technical Expertise; Technology; Technology Assessment; Treatment Outcome;
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The Public's Role in the Evaluation of Health Care Technology: The Conflict Over ECT
Heitman, Elizabeth (1996-09)