The medical profession in many industrialized nations has increasingly been subjected to accountability measures, most notably through the development of quality assurance programmes for practitioners. In New Zealand this development has been enshrined in law under the Medical Practitioners Act 1995. This article looks at some of the concerns raised by these developments, particularly focusing on the ways this might affect practitioners using alternative therapies. From an examination of the debates around accountability in medical practice, and interviews with practitioners who use alternative therapy, three models of medical practice are proposed. These models suggest that medical practices reflect worldviews that revolve around the way relationships between the medical profession, the practitioner, the patient and the patient’s condition are perceived.
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