Evidence-based Medicine (EBM) is feared to become a kind of cook-book medicine that has nothing to do with the traditional skills and ethics.

This volume shows the contribution EBM makes and might make to medical practice and health policy. It describes as many viewpoints as possible with a focus on the ethical issues that are at stake in this process.

It shows how EBM has developed from an internal medical issue to an instrument for health policy. It is the outcome of the European Project 'Ethical Issues of Evidence Based Practice in Medicine and Health Care' and gives insight into the ethical background of the debate on the role of EBM in various areas of medicine, including clinical practice, medical education, medical research, health policy and medical sociology.

Ruud ter Meulen, Nikola Biller-Andorno, Christian Lenk, Reidar Lie - The ethical debate on Evidence-based Medicine

Introduction to the Volume- Christine Sepers and Ruud ter Meulen - Regulating Health Care. The development of guidelines in medical practice and health policy- Rein Vos, Rob Houtepen, Klasien Horstman - Evidence-based Medicine and Power Shifts in Health Care Systems- Mariachiara Tallacchini - Beyond Legitimate Science: The Case for Policy-Related Science- Franz Porzsolt and Heike Leonhardt-Huober - Teaching Evidence-based Medicine- Frank Praetoriu - Evidence-based Medicine and Clinical Guidelines in Cardiology- Promoting Science, Practice, or Bureaucracy?- Fabrizio Fabris, Carla Scarafiotti, Barbara Maero - Are particular patients disadvantaged by EBM? Focus on frail elderly patients
Andreas Reis, Christian Lenk, Nikola Biller-Andorno - Evidence-based Medicine in Mental Health: Towards better and fairer treatment?- Richard E. Ashcroft - Current Epistemological Problems in Evidence-based Medicine- Rein Vos, Dick Willems, and Rob Houtepen - Coordinating the Norms and Values of Medical Research, Medical Practice and Patient Worlds - the Ethics of Evidence-based Medicine in "Orphaned Fields of Medicine"- Reidar K. Lie - Research Ethics and Evidence-based Medicine- Heiner Raspe - Clinical evaluative research: which patients benefit, how and when?- A contribution to a European discussion- Alessandro Liberati and Paolo Vineis -Defining a proper background for discussing Evidence-based Medicine- Wendy A. Rogers - Evidence-based Medicine and Equity: the Exclusion of Disadvantaged Groups- Ole Frithjof Norheim - The Role of Formal Outcome Evaluations in Health Policy Making: A Normative Perspective- Erik Nord - The Usefulness of Formal Outcome Evaluations in Health Policy Making: Looking for the Baby in the Bathwater- Marion Danis - Evidence-based Medicine and Managed Care- Rob Houtepen, Nikola Biller-Andorno, Donna Dickenson, Paolo Vineis, Reidar Lie, Ruud ter Meulen - Recommendations from the Evibase Project- Christine Sepers & Ruud ter Meulen - Selected bibliography on ethics and EBM