RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 There is no alternative medicine JF Medical Humanities JO J Med Humanit FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Institute of Medical Ethics SP 115 OP 117 DO 10.1136/jmh.2010.004358 VO 36 IS 2 A1 Pekka Louhiala YR 2010 UL http://mh.bmj.com/content/36/2/115.abstract AB The term ‘alternative medicine’ is a misnomer because it suggests that there are two kinds of medicine alternative to each other. Although commonly used, the term is problematic. It escapes a meaningful definition, and ‘alternative medicine’ cannot be clearly differentiated from ‘conventional medicine’. The nature of ‘alternative’ in ‘alternative medicine’ is anything but clear. In addition, bundling all the so-called alternative therapies under one heading is misleading. Due to the purely rhetoric nature of the ‘alternativity’, there seems to be no such thing as ‘alternative medicine’ in any meaningful sense.