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View a panel discussion on the new FRONTLINE special, The Alternative Fix

FRONTLINE: The Alternative Fix examines the explosion in the popularity, and profitability, of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Under pressure from everyone from consumers to Congress, yet tempted by huge grants, hospitals and medical schools have embraced therapies that they once dismissed as quackery. So accepted have alternative medical treatments become that an entire center of the National Institutes of Health is now devoted to CAM. But the question remains: do these treatments actually work? Through interviews with staunch supporters, skeptical scientists, and observers on both sides of the debate, this documentary examines how these popular treatments are facing increased scrutiny as the first real studies of their effectiveness are published, and questions whether hospitals that offer alternative therapies are conferring a sense of legitimacy on these largely untested and scientifically unproven treatments.