One day, not too long ago, I was in the waitingroom of the doctor’s office. With me was an elderly lady and we had a nice conversation. She was waiting for a bloodtest due to diabetes. A test, a checkup, that might take just a few minutes. the doctor came in and said she was awaiting another patient and that she, the elderly lady, was on her list for the day after. She should come back the next day. She should take a good look in her dairy, where she writes down her appointments. And that was it. She could go without further due. I could see the elderly lady was fuming, but she did not say anything. She left the office. Note: she was an elderly lady, who had to go through a lot of trouble to get to the doctor’s office and the next patient did not even show up yet. I sat there and watched the scene unfold before my eyes. It made me think of the oath of Hippocrates.
The oath of Hippocrates, is one of the most influential texts connected to the name of Hippocrates. The original text is still regarded by many as authorative. The oath established a moral self-regulation of the profession. Throughout the centuries, the oath has undergone many changes under the influence of changes in society.
In this day and age, it is called the physician’s oath and it goes as follows:
* I swear, I promise that I will practice medicine as well as I can in the service of my fellow man.
* I will take care of the sick, promote health and alliviate suffering.
* I put the interest of the patient first and I respect his views.
* I will not harm the patient.
* I listen and will inform him well.
* I will keep secret what is entrusted to me.
* I will promote the medical knowledge of myself and others.
* I acknowledge the limits of my possibilities.
* I will be open and testable and I know my responsability for society.
* I will promote the availability and accesibility of healthcare.
* I do not, under any circumstance, abuse my medical knowledge.
* I will thus honour the profession of doctor.
* So help me God Almighty.
Now place the example above in addition to this oath and draw your own conclusion…
Anyway, the biggest difference with the original oath is the Í shall not kill ‘. In today’s society, providing assistance with a deathwish is increasingly coming under the influence of the makability concept. Or is the alliviating’ suffering prevailing?
We all know that the doctor and the physician’s oath are under great pressure, now that healthcare is in the hands of insurance companies. The doctor is becoming more and more a puppet on the string of ‘Big Pharma’. In the early days, Chinese Medical Doctors were only paid when the patient did NOT get sick…
Here and now, healthcare is no longer healthcare in this sense, but a matter of money where the doctor, the physician’s oath and the patient are being sandwiched. In my personal opinion, this is an unwanted development. And what to think of the electronic patient file?Doctors are typing their fingertips off to write everything down for the insurancecompanies, with whom they have a contract and by whom they get paid. Because of this, real human contact is almost impossible. And is this contact not the most important thing? Is this contact not part of the real healing process?
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February 2019
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