What is the Hippocratic Oath? How has the Hippocratic Oath been negatively impacted by Governor Gavin Newsom and his predecessors?
Let us begin this discussion by finding out who Hippocrates was and why the Hippocratic Oath is vital to each and every one of us, doctor and patient alike. If we understand these basic principles, it’s bye-bye Newsom, hello healing!
Hippocrates is known as the father of medicine. His writings come from when he practiced medicine, about 450 BC. That’s about 2500 years ago. Medicine has been around for a long time.
The Hippocratic Oath is a series of writings of Hippocrates and his contemporaries which discusses the treatment of patients and the subsequent prognosis (foretelling) of the outcome of that treatment. And those writings hold today, more valid than ever before. Medicine is 100% about treatment and prognosis.
For example, if I get a belly ache that won’t go away and become a patient, I seek the help of my doctor and he or she “treats” me. If the diagnosis is acute appendicitis, then by having my appendix removed, the outcome of that treatment is recovery and back to normal living, instead of suffering the natural course of this disease, which is perforation, peritonitis, septic shock, and death. Thus, the principles of “good” common sense “treatment” are vital to all of us.
There are six covenants of this oath which I swore forty-four years ago, which describe the “spirit” of the doctor patient bond or relationship. Each one brings up the issue of trust and care and of how and why Newsom and his Medi-Cal has so horribly (but thoroughly and effectively) breached all the six.
Those covenants are honor, teaching, limitations, availability, abjuring harm, and finally privacy. They in this order for the purposes of this discussion because this is the order of their appearance on the oath I swore. But as you will find, all of these covenants carry equal weight, and if any are violated, the results are the same. It is my goal to dive into each of these covenants individually and explore breach. The first will be Honor, and so on.
But first, let’s be clear. Nobody likes the thought of going to the doctor unless you are a nut or you are sick. But how you are treated in those unfortunate times makes all the difference in the world. And that goes for both doctor and patient.
If you care about another person, then your trust in that person grows. If you don’t care about others then your trust or faith in them wanes. It’s that simple. The entire issue of these covenants centers on caring and trust. And in each covenant, to be discussed in series, we will identify just how toxic Newsom has been in his methodical destructive agenda, and what we are going to do about it.
This is Part VI of a series on Medi-Cal, government run healthcare.
Part I is here: Medi-Cal and Its Deleterious Impact in California Medical Care: The Cause
Part II is here: Medi-Cal and Its Deleterious Impact in California Medical Care: The Effect
Part III is here: Medi-Cal and Its Deleterious Impact in California Medical Care: The Cure
Part IV is here: Medi-Cal and Its Deleterious Impact in California Medical Care: The Deep State
Part V is here: Medi-Cal and Its Deleterious Impact in California Medical Care: The Challenge