Background: Evidence-based medicine with clinical practice guidelines represents a concept of clinical decisioning based on the current evidence. Clinical practice guidelines are systematically developed points of view meant to help both a physician and a patient in making decisions about the care of the individual patient. Clinical practice guidelines represent only a basic guidance to be considered by a physician in a specific clinical case and that can be upgraded by considering the patient’s comorbidity and other circumstances.. It is estimated that clinical guidelines are followed by 70 % of European physicians.

Conclusions: Clinical practice guidelines are not just simple recipes for patient treatment and also not a means of economizing in the health services and cannot be used in legal actions. For ethical decision making in medicine it is crucial to use the latest scientific achievements. Correctly understood and used clinical practice guidelines do not represent an obstacle for the patient’s independency and creativity.