"Paternalism occurs when the autonomy of a competent person is overridden on the grounds that an action is intended to improve their well-being. The risk of paternalism in healthcare is significant because of the power dynamic between a person in need of treatment and a person who is able to offer treatment within an establishment that is considered to be authoritative." "In this paper, I show that the appeal of alternative medicine to women relates to the neglect of women’s health needs within scientific medicine." Alternative medicine "is valued both for pragmatic medical reasons—because it is believed to be effective, it is assumed to have few or no side effects, it is deemed to be more “natural”—and for ideological reasons—because it is believed to offer control over health, be non-authoritarian, and improve patient autonomy by avoiding paternalism and universalism." Arianne Shahvisi: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6474852/ via @Sohan #healthcare #autonomy #AlternativeMedicine #health #publicHealth #medicine