(With apologies to Patch Adams and any other physician who puts patient care above all other considerations.)
Many doctors have taken the Hippocratic Oath since it was first proposed by Hippocrates, known as the father of modern medicine. Since then, the oath has been modified by different societies to adapt to the new times and, at present, not all teaching schools require new doctors to put themselves under this oath. Below is an examination of one of the variants.
Paragraph 1: I swear to abide, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:
Okay, but do they really know what they’re wearing? You?
Paragraph 2: I will respect the hard-won scientific achievements of those physicians in whose footsteps I follow, and will gladly share my knowledge with those who will follow.
“…in whose steps I walk”, that is the problem. The medical industry is built brick upon brick of so-called scientific evidence produced by individuals who claim advances in medical science. Well, it’s about time it suffered a double whammy, the magnitude 5+ Hurricane Katrina/Wilma. That is what it will take for them to realize that the American Medical Association and the scientific method do not have all the answers and that the very foundation of their scientific method is herbalism, a practice that the AMA seeks to tread on.
As for sharing your knowledge, this is definitely an irregular matter. Some do, if they can get a research grant that allows them to write an article for publication in a scientific journal. But, if a doctor working for a drug house produces scientific evidence of the efficacy of another approach or a less expensive drug, he cannot publish her work. His primary need is to continue working for the company, whose main goal is to find new ways to produce specialty drugs sold at exorbitant prices in order to increase profits. Worse yet, these researchers have to sign secret contracts before they can be employed.
Paragraph 3: I will apply, for the benefit of the patients, all the measures that are necessary, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.
Ignoring the fact that the statement itself is grammatically incorrect (what else could they do in such a sloppy way?), let’s look at overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism: many children have been subjected to this phenomenon because of the doctor’s ignorance of the condition. of the child. . For example, epilepsy can be easily cured with naturopathic methods such as those practiced at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, yet doctors around the world still prescribe drugs with horrendous side effects that serve no purpose, i.e. , are therapeutically nihilistic and to use them is to overtreat a condition for which there is a simple remedy.
The same applies to the treatment of gallstones. Gallstones form in the liver and only become apparent when they have moved into the gallbladder, becoming calcified enough to show up on an X-ray. There is a simple herbal remedy used for thousands of years that can relieve the problem in 24 hours painlessly and cheaply without surgical intervention. Subjecting patients to surgery is decidedly therapeutic nihilism in the extreme.
Paragraph 4: I will remember that there is art in medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy and understanding can outweigh the surgeon’s knife or the chemist’s drug.
Doctors practicing modern medicine in the United States are taught that medicine is a science. Whatever part of his education is devoted to “warmth, sympathy, and understanding,” we have no idea, but it is blatantly obvious, if only from the limited amount of time a doctor gives each patient, that these three qualities are not are practiced in most cases. When was the last time your doctor gave you the warmth of a sympathetic hug, or showed true understanding of how you feel?
Paragraph 5: I will not be ashamed to say “I don’t know”, nor will I stop calling my colleagues when someone else’s skills are needed for a patient’s recovery.
The danger in this statement is that when a doctor doesn’t know what a patient is suffering from, they rarely say so, often prescribing treatments for supposed conditions the patient doesn’t have. His alternative is applied by sending the patient to a specialist. If this isn’t passing the buck, what is? The problem then becomes the specialist, and we have met many who do not have the answers either. Ask any rheumatologist, “What causes the disease?” “Uh-huh,” he will confess, “we really don’t know…”
Paragraph 6: I will respect the privacy of my patients, because their problems are not revealed to me for the world to know. Most especially I must tread carefully in matters of life and death. If it is given to me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be in my power to take a life; This tremendous responsibility must be faced with great humility and awareness of my own fragility. Above all, I must not play God.
“…play God!” Now this brings a smile to the face and a chuckle to the throat. The moment she walks into a doctor’s office and asks for her help, she is asking him to take responsibility for her medical care. You, at that moment, are asking him to “play God.” Since when did a doctor acknowledge his own guilt and his own responsibility for his health? At that point, the only thing he can do is offer you drug therapy or surgery. As a member of the American Medical Association and the laws this organization has created, they can do no more. If this isn’t playing God, what is?
When you accept responsibility for your own health care, does your doctor cooperate with you? Unlikely! When we have explained to our doctors that we don’t want a particular drug, or asked for something that has helped us in the past, they have turned us down. Another example of the doctor playing God! We know our bodies and how they respond to medication, our doctors don’t, and any treatment offered (even with the best of intentions) may not be appropriate for our bodies, or yours. What happened to freedom of choice, a God-given right?
For 7: I will remember that I am not treating a feverish condition, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness can affect the family and economic stability of the person. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to properly care for the sick.
In the United States, health care is a massive business backed by pharmaceutical houses whose main interest is to increase shareholder profits. It does not matter what effect any medical treatment offered has on a person’s “family and financial stability.” Expensive tests will be performed regardless of whether they are necessary or not due to the increased fear of doctors of being sued for damages. Medications will be prescribed, treatments recommended, all of which the patient, regardless of family and economic circumstances, is expected to finance. Very few doctors under this regime take care of such matters. If the treatment kills the patient, then what! It is a well-known fact that doctors bury their mistakes or, if discovered, are sued for millions of dollars, increasing the cost of medical care for the patient. Among them, doctors and lawyers fleece the poor. Under these circumstances, can doctors really claim to “properly care for the sick”?
Paragraph 8: I will prevent illness whenever I can, because prevention is better than cure.
Prevention is certainly better for the individual, but two factors are important here. First of all, the patient goes to the doctor for treatment when he has become ill. The doctor does not prevent the disease in his patient because it only activates after the fact, not before. There are no provisions in the United States for any doctor to make sure their patients don’t get sick in the first place. Second, most of the medications that the doctor prescribes do not prevent the disease. Many have side effects that cause other diseases, and can even cause death.
Paragraph 9: I will remember that I am still a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow men, the healthy in mind and body, as well as the sick.
If we remember correctly, most doctors earn significantly more money than most people in their society. It has always been a prestigious profession from a financial perspective. Can anyone point us to a doctor who goes to great lengths to make sure his patients can avoid getting sick, or a doctor who makes financial sacrifices on his own for the sick? What “special obligations” are being referred to here? Can someone tell us?
Paragraph 10: If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live, and fondly remembered afterwards. May I always act to preserve the best traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.
We think you would agree that most doctors enjoy their lives and practice very little art in diagnosing and treating disease, whether or not it violates the Hippocratic Oath.
We maintain that the respect that doctors receive is due to the fear that their patients have of them, rather than due to the treatment received.
“…respect…” Now why should we respect someone who is so closed-minded that they actually go to great lengths to deprive people of homeopathy, naturopathy, herbalism, etc. Nope! They don’t deserve respect, they deserve ridicule.
“…fondly remembered…” What a joke. We don’t think most patients know their doctors well enough to remember them given the amount of time their doctor allows them.
One last very uplifting statement to the final clause of the Hippocratic Oath, but who do these people think they’re kidding? The best traditions of his calling are long dead. The AMA and the drug houses rule practicing medical professionals! They have no mind or will of their own in the practice of modern medicine. We suspect that many of them realize this after they have been in the practice for several years. As for the use of the expression “joy to heal”, we are amazed beyond belief at such arrogance. They don’t heal anyone; they simply help the individual’s body to heal itself. Now what could be more hypocritical than that?
The Hippocratic Oath is the most hypocritical oath any doctor could take. Not only do you need to be up to date, but you need to be aware of all the other medical practices in use today that DO bring relief to the suffering of millions without drugs or surgery. The original meaning, as postulated by Hippocrates, has become meaningless and we are sure he turns in his grave at what has happened to medical practice, certainly in the last sixty years.