Where's the Hippocratic Oath?

When Hippocrates, the "father of medicine" began having his students take their oath, it meant something. The oath was very detailed and held in high esteem by both the students and the patients. When a new doctor took the oath, he swore to protect his patients. He pledged to "do no harm." He promised not to kill his patients for any reason.

Even during the years when doctors would "bleed" their patients (sometimes to death), the intention was to use the best medical knowledge available to save the life of the patient. As medical science grew and developed new treatments and discoveries, the oath held fast. When germs were discovered, the doctors began sterilizing their instruments and washing their hands between patients. Many women died from "child bed fever" after delivering a baby because they had previously used dirty instruments. Many a simple surgery went wrong as well. But when germs were discovered, everything changed and the modern era in medicine was born. Soon after came the "wonder drugs" like penicillin, aspirin and others. The oath held fast.

So what went wrong? Society changed during the sixties and not for the better. The scientists who had been working on healing drugs started finding and selling the deadly kind. C&H Sugar Company had two chemists on their payroll who developed LSD (C&H did not support their work!) Cocaine, marijuana, and a wide variety of pills came into popular use. The new strains of venereal diseases became immune to the old anti-biotics. Abortion became a popular method of birth control and was accepted when Roe v. Wade became the law of the land. The doctors who committed abortions found new and gruesome ways to kill the babies. Old and sick people were allowed to have a doctor help them kill themselves. The Hippocratic Oath was effectively thrown out. No longer did a doctor have to try to save his patients. He was free to kill if the pay was sufficient. He could use endless "testing" to drain a patient's finances before dumping them.

Doctors now prescribe new "wonder drugs" for every ailment imaginable. They advertise on television and join with the drug companies to make their money. Have a cold or allergy? Take this pill and it will cure you. Of course, it will cause infections, nosebleeds, headaches, etc. Ask your doctor about this new drug for arthritis. It'll cure you. Of course you can get cancer from it and tuberculosis. Take this one for nerves, it only causes birth defects. Here's a great mood elevator and it will just give you massive diarrhea and cramps. How about a little methadone to get you off the heroin? It's just as addictive.

We now have "celebrity specialists" like Dr. Kapoor, who prescribed all those lovely meds that ruined Anna Nicole Smith's life. A "Doctor Feel Good" also prescribed the drugs that ultimately killed Elvis Presley. Which good doctor is "treating" Britney Spears? Looking around on the news and in commercials, you can't miss the ads. If old Hippocrates could only see the way his followers have gone, he would have a fit. The oath was once a safeguard for the sick. Without it there is no integrity left in the medical profession, only profit.