BETRAYAL OF THE HIPPOCRATIC OATH

I swear by Apollo Physician and Asclepius and Hygieia and Panaceia and all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will fulfil according to my ability and judgment this oath and this covenant:

To hold him who has taught me this art as equal to my parents and to live my life in partnership with him, and if he is in need of money to give him a share of mine, and to regard his offspring as equal to my brothers in male lineage and to teach them this art - if they desire to learn it - without fee and covenant; to give a share of precepts and oral instruction and all the other learning to my sons and to the sons of him who has instructed me and to pupils who have signed the covenant and have taken an oath according to the medical law, but no one else.

I will apply dietetic measures for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgment; I will keep them from harm and injustice.

I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy. In purity and holiness I will guard my life and my art.

I will not use the knife, not even on sufferers from stone, but will withdraw in favor of such men as are engaged in this work.

Whatever houses I may visit, I will come for the benefit of the sick, remaining free of all intentional injustice, of all mischief and in particular of sexual relations with both female and male persons, be they free or slaves.

What I may see or hear in the course of the treatment or even outside of the treatment in regard to the life of men, which on no account one must spread abroad, I will keep to myself, holding such things shameful to be spoken about.

If I fulfil this oath and do not violate it, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and art, being honored with fame among all men for all time to come; if I transgress it and swear falsely, may the opposite of all this be my lot.

Hippocrates was a Greek physician who lived around 460-377 BC and is often regarded as the "father of medicine". And the Hippocratic Oath, though probably not really the work of Hippocrates, is the most enduring tradition in Western medicine and has been the guiding ethical code for physicians since ancient Greece.

The Hippocratic Oath is a continuing ideal and a strong moral force conditioning medical practice. It falls into two parts. The first specifies the duties of the physician to his teachers ad his obligation in transmitting medical knowledge. The second, giving rules to be observed in the treatment of diseases, is a short summary of medical ethics expressing general principles. The oath became the nucleus of all medical ethics. In its most compelling portions, it emphasizes the profundity of the medical covenant, patient dignity, the confidentiality of transaction, and the physician's responsibility to guard against abuse or corruption of his knowledge and art.

In 1948, a modern version of the Oath was drwan up by the World Medical Association ans was amended in 1968.

At the time of being admitted a member of the medical profession:
I solemnly pledge myself to consecrate my life to the service of humanity;
I will give my teachers the respect and gratitude which is their due;
I will practice my profession with conscience and dignity;
The health of my patient will be my first consideration;
I will respect the secrets confided in me, even after the patient has died;
I will maintain by all means in my power, the honor and the noble traditions of the medical profession;
My colleagues will be my brothers;
I will not permit considerations of religion, nationality, race, party politics or social standing to intervene between my duty and my patient;
I will maintain utmost respect for human life from the time of conception; even under threat will not use my medical knowledge contrary to the laws of humanity.
I make these promises solemnly, freely and upon my honor.

Many eons ago, I wanted to be a doctor. I guess that "wanting" never really left my heart though it's not strong enough for me to go into medical school. However, having entered the allied medical field, I have been a doctor's most cruel critic. And why not? Most of the doctors I know are guilty of all my critisms.

I belong to a family of doctors. Some of my friends are on their way to becoming doctors, a few already are. And I am proud to say that all my family and friends who are doctors are really doctors, those who haven't forgotten their oath. Or I would like to think of it that way.

I had a debate with my mom about the doctors in the office I work in. You see, I now work in the Provincial Health Office, in the Nutrition Services. (Fine, fine, I got in through nepotism. Nepotism is an art.) My immediate superior is an RND (Registered Nutritionist-Dietitian) but her superior is a doctor. Imagine a doctor in the office! I asked, what's a doctor doing in an office? They should be out there, doing the stuff real doctors do. Not behind a table buried in paperwork which, actually they don't do, they just sign over their names with that two letters that they betrayed, MD.

The Office is like a distorted version of my family, a cross between politics and medicine. Only in my family, we are slowly flushing politics away. But in the office, politics is a way of life.

For the sake of my friends who doesn't know how office politics in the government goes, I'm sorry to say that how they put it is really true. It's not what you know that matters. It's who you know.

(Background Information: I am the third generation from my family to hold office in the Provincial Health Office. My grandfather was a provincial sanitary inspector. His connections landed my mom her item as public health nurse. I can still vaguely remember the times when I visited him in that office. Sometimes I still glance over to where he used to sit and smile. And now, I got in the Nutrition Services through my mom's connections. Guess it runs in the family. They were offering me an item as Nutritionist-Dietitian but I refused. I'm not about to snatch an item from somebody whose been waiting for an opening for years just because my Mom's chummy-chummy with the Nutrition Officer or that the Head of Office happened to be a grade school classmate's uncle. I'm not about to join in the intricate web of government office politics. At least, not yet.)

MD - Medical Doctor

It's a title you work for for more than ten painstaking years. Four years pre-med. Four years med school. The Board exam. One year PGI. Residencies. 24-duties. Rural communities. Hours upon hours of seminars then you land on a desk job. Pathetic. A job even a four-year college course graduate can do. Maybe even better. But because your name is followed by the two magic letters and your family's support for the incumbent governor or board member or whoever in the last election. You got the job. All those years of studying, wasted. And an oath betrayed.

I know a lot of doctors. I have a team of doctors that help me and my family maintain a sound body. I trust them. We trust them.

A physician has two fundamental duties.

The first, to transmit the medical knowledge. I salute doctors who are also teachers. Who share what they know for the sake of future generations. I know a handful of these people. One of them is actually one of the people I admire the most.

The second, to follow the rules observed in treating diseases and his duty to guard the abuse of their knowledge.

And for me, anyone who comes short of the two fundamental duties of a doctor has no right to end his name with an MD.


*with excerpts from Grolier Encyclopedia of Knowledge and http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/doctors/oath_classical.html