TOPIC:

Hello Everybody,

as there are some posts on this forum talking about the various experiences the patients had in the relationship with their doctors or the medical system, I though it would be a good idea to post here the elementary "rock" - The Hippocratic Oath - of every doctor, so that anyone may know what to expect from his/her doctor.

So, according to Wikipedia, there exist 2 versions of the H. oath:

Original oath
I swear by Apollo The Healer, by Asclepius, by Hygieia, by Panacea, and by all the Gods and Goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will carry out, according to my ability and judgment, this oath and this indenture.

To hold my teacher in this art equal to my own parents; to make him partner in my livelihood; when he is in need of money to share mine with him; to consider his family as my own brothers, and to teach them this art, if they want to learn it, without fee or indenture; to impart precept, oral instruction, and all other instruction to my own sons, the sons of my teacher, and to indentured pupils who have taken the physician’s oath, but to nobody else.

I will use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgment, but never with a view to injury and wrong-doing. Neither will I administer a poison to anybody when asked to do so, nor will I suggest such a course. Similarly I will not give to a woman a pessary to cause abortion. But I will keep pure and holy both my life and my art. I will not use the knife, not even, verily, on sufferers from stone, but I will give place to such as are craftsmen therein.

Into whatsoever houses I enter, I will enter to help the sick, and I will abstain from all intentional wrong-doing and harm, especially from abusing the bodies of man or woman, bond or free. And whatsoever I shall see or hear in the course of my profession, as well as outside my profession in my intercourse with men, if it be what should not be published abroad, I will never divulge, holding such things to be holy secrets.
Now if I carry out this oath, and break it not, may I gain for ever reputation among all men for my life and for my art; but if I transgress it and forswear myself, may the opposite befall me.

and the modern version
I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:...

I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.

I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures which are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.

I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.

I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.

I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. Above all, I must not play at God.

I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.

I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.

I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.
If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.
(source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocratic_Oath )

In case there exist a more accurate version of the H. oath, please feel free to specify this

Cheers,
RHF

Yes RHF, there has been some debate here in the UK re this when some NHS England Drs have refused monitoring eg, One of my consultants included. Turned out his education was funded by big pharma, most of them, his blythe, arrogant attiyude was truly something to behold. Among other things shouting 'YOU CAN WAIT' at me Thankfully there are more Docs coming around to the idea of monitoring here slowly, thanks to Dr F's EASL presentation I feel, even though most are 'incognito' as they don't want to get in trouble with the NHS suits. It Seems in the UK at least, it's those invisible suits that are mostly to blame and the docs have to decide whether to risk being supportive. The ones totally beholden to big pharma, obviously don't want to risk the comfortable lifestyle provided, but I now have a lovely supportive specialist Nurse / clinic thankfully. The Dr at the head of this dept. doesn't associated himself with this as far a I know, after waiting over 3 months for my initial appointment on diagnosis, and trapsing to the hospital with severe back, hip & pelvic pain, he didn't bother to even show up, leaving a note saying he 'didn't want to see me' - Extremely distressing at the time.

Thank heavens for Dr F and Dr D hey?

Many years ago my brother told me:

"In the race between the greater good and self interest, back self interest every time"

It took me a good 20 years to understand......

Sadly doctors are not immune to this.

At the moment I feel like the little boy saying the king - aka Big Pharma - has no clothes.

It's only a matter of time before others see, but it is remarkably lonely.

Someone told that it is always good to look in the history and learn from it.
Somebody else said that sometimes talking in metaphors helps in better understanding a delicate/critical situation.

Regarding the Hippocratic Oath and the HCV patients, my metaphor is related to the solar system where:
- Life (or Health) = SUN (center of the solar system)
- The Hippocratic Oath = EARTH (the place where the patients and doctors are bounded via gravity)
- Intellectual Property = MOON ( a satellite orbiting the Earth and influencing it, via tides, from time to time).

Hundreds/Thousands of years ago, people believed wrongly that the MOON and the SUN are somehow similar, having almost the same size. They were thinking this by looking with their own eyes to the 2 celestial bodies. In time people got smarter and more educated and noticed that in fact the celestial bodies are not so similar. People like Giordano Bruno knew about this truth and .... he was burned at the stake. (I hope this will no longer happen.....). Years later it was confirmed he was right.

In the HCV context, LIFE is and will remain always the center of our solar system and has the highest role / importance / meaning / INFINITE VALUE.
The Hipocratic Oath with its satellite (the Intellectual Property) are orbiting the LIFE. No one should claim or say that the MOON (Intellectual Property) is the same with the SUN (Life). It would be a fool to sustain such things.

It will take however time until people will understand the real difference between Life and Intellectual Property, as it happened in the past with the MOON and the SUN....

Last but not least, in the days without clouds in the sky, whenever I looked at the SUN, it was always round and FULL in shape. But in the case of the MOON, I noticed there are days with FULL MOON, with HALF MOON, and with NEW MOONS. To me this means that the Intellectual Property should and must sometimes make a step back, while the LIFE will always remain/preserve the highest value!!!

Cheers,
RHF

I tried to make a visual representation of the metaphor from my previous post .... I am not so skilled in graphics, so in case someone else might give a better representation, it would be great:

Making a parallelism between what people knew in the past about the solar system.....


and what (many) people think today when talking about the generic medication for HCV.....

There is one doctor in Romania that I never met, but I like reading his messages on the internet, especially when he is answering to people's questions.

I will not make an advertise for him, but I like a lot his answer to the following question as he is one of the very few doctors from Romania making such information available:

" Romanian text:
I: Am inteles ca exista mai multe medicamente generice foarte eficiente in hepatita C, ati avut bolnavi tratati cu ele, cum au mers?
R: Anul trecut am* urmarit cateva zeci de pacienti tratati cu generice si toti s-au vindecat, iar efectele secundare au fost minore, fara sa fie necesara modificarea tratamentului.
* am corectat o mica eroare de tiparire..
// english translation //

Q: I understood there exist more generic drugs being very effective in hepatitis C, did you have sick people being treated by them, how did it go?
A: Last year I* followed a few dozen of patients treated with generics and all got cured, while the side effects were minor, without being necessary to modify the treatment.
*I corrected a small typing error.
"

Cheers,
RHF