Standard of Care / Standard Therapy
The term standard of care has both medical and legal definitions. In law, this term has both a general meaning as well as specific ones. In a general legal sense, "standard of care" refers to the steps or action a responsible party would reasonably have taken to insure that a second party suffered no harm.
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Specifically related to the practice of medicine, this refers to the level of competence at which a prudent, responsible health care provider would practice his/her profession. In the case of a malpractice suit, the court would need to consider how a practitioner with similar training and experience would have managed a patient's care under similar conditions. This is how the plaintiff's attorney in such a case establishes the standard of care, after which s/he must demonstrate to the court how this standard of care has been breached or violated.
As a strictly medical term, the "standard of care" is what defines an appropriate diagnostic method and course of treatment for a particular kind of patient with a specific disease at a certain stage under a given set of clinical or other circumstances. Chemotherapy and radiation treatments are the current standard of care for many types of cancer. These are also known as standard therapies, or "best practice." With any disease or illness, standard therapies are those upon which medical experts are appropriate to a given condition. Health care providers are required by their profession to provide standard therapies.
In addition to standard therapies, there are also complimentary and alternative therapies. Complimentary therapy is sometimes used to relieve the side effects of chemotherapy or radiation treatments, and consist of proven treatments such as acupuncture, massage and biofeedback. Alternative therapies are usually unproven, and if used carelessly, can cause more harm than good. Any patient considering alternative therapy should research it thoroughly; a few are currently under study and show great promise, but should be approached with a great deal of caution.