In recent decades, North American health consumers have increasingly turned to unconventional therapies to complement, or replace, traditional biomedical practices. The topic of unconventional therapies can no longer be ignored or marginalized because, for better or worse, each seriously ill person cannot help but be confronted with choices about their possible usage. In this paper four perspectives relevant to a consideration of unconventional therapies are characterized and discussed, with cancer used to exemplify issues. The perspectives include the biomedical, the alternative, the progressive, and the postmodern. Each perspective is discussed in terms of its implications for patient choice. All perspectives are potentially helpful, dependent upon individual factors and the stage of illness, and patients tend to modify their perspective to meet circumstances. However, the postmodern perspective is argued to most clearly allow for the changing needs of ill persons, and the many inherent uncertainties involved with serious illness.
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