Ethical and legal issues in antiaging medicine.
The development of specific antiaging treatments and the emergence of the practice of antiaging medicine have created new ethical and legal issues. The ultimate desirability of treatments designed to alter human aging is currently an actively debated issue that needs to emerge as an issue of public dialogue, given the potentially dramatic effect these therapies could have on both individual health and societal structure. Current therapies carry many doubts about their safety and effectiveness, which makes the practice of antiaging medicine with the prescription of these therapies a challenging issue from both a legal and ethical perspective. Finally, although the practice of antiaging medicine is not directly recognized and regulated by legislation, both anti-aging treatments and practice are regulated by emerging state and federal legislation that is evolving to address the emerging area of complementary and alternative medicine.
Fisher
Alfred L
AL
Department of Medicine, Division of Geriatrics, University of California at San Francisco, 4150 Clement Street, 111-G, San Francisco, CA 94121, USA. fishera@medicine.ucsf.edu
Hill
Renée
R
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000529:Complementary Therapies / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000379:methods; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D005853:Geriatrics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D016365:Liability, Legal; D008297:Male; D010344:Patient Advocacy; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'