A Personal Experience with Healthcare Insurance
He who will not reason is a bigot; he who cannot is a fool; and he who dares not is a slave. ~William Drummond It was 1 AM on an ordinary September night in 2003, and I was sound asleep...
Author: Patrick Wagner, MD
Patrick Wagner is a retired Sacramento general surgeon working to help establish the best free enterprise medical and surgical system in the history of California. Wagner attended University of Nevada, Reno medical school, did his residency at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento.
The Hippocratic Oath: Privacy
The sixth and final covenant of the Hippocratic Oath is called Privacy. My oath states: That whatsoever I shall see or hear in regard to the life of my patients I will keep inviolably in confidence even beyond the patient’s death....
The Hippocratic Oath: Abjuring Harm
The fifth and next to the final covenant of the Hippocratic Oath discussed here is to abjure harm. The oath I swore states: That I will abjure (reject) any medicine or operation or counsel which is injurious or deleterious to...
The Hippocratic Oath: Availability
That I will not, for any reason, refuse my highest abilities to those who seek my professional skills. How simple and common sensical is this statement about access or availability of a physician to his or her patients? Described above...
The Hippocratic Oath: Limitations
So far in our discussion of the covenants of the Hippocratic Oath we have covered honor and teaching. An equally important covenant is that of limitations. Please recognize that as with all the covenants, the function of both the doctor...
Medi-Cal and its Deleterious Impact in California Medical Care: Teaching
The Hippocratic Oath says a lot about the quality of those who teach students the art of medicine. Those teachers are considered as dear as parents. And it goes on to say that I will impart my medical knowledge (judgment)...
Medi-Cal and its Deleterious Impact in California Medical Care: Honor
One of the most amazing privileges of being a surgeon in Sacramento was in receiving patient referrals from my fellow physicians for consideration of whether I would recommend surgery. It was like a feather in my cap. And the honor...