title: Seven characteristics of medical evidence.
abstract: This paper outlines seven essential characteristics of medical evidence and describes the implications of these for both the theory of evidence-based medicine and clinical practice. The seven characteristics are: (1) Provisional; (2) Defeasible; (3) Emergent; (4) Incomplete; (5) Constrained; (6) Collective and (7) Asymmetric. It is argued that the epistemological theory that best fits medical evidence is that of fallibilism.
authors.affiliation: Primary Care Research Unit, Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Upshur
mesh_terms: D004992:Ethics, Medical; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine / Q000145:classification; D015276:Health Care Rationing; D006801:Humans; D007603:Jurisprudence