We Can't Blame Doctors. The Modern Hippocratic Oath.

I was up late last night and saw one of the many commercials about a medicine that can help you sleep. everyone looks happy and well rested, then at the end, you hear the long list of side effects, which include:

All medicines may cause side effects, but many people have no, or minor side effects. Check with your doctor if any of these most COMMON side effects persist or become bothersome when using Lunesta:

Anxiety; decrease in sexual desire; difficulty with coordination; dizziness; drowsiness; dry mouth; headache; indigestion; lightheadedness; nausea; nervousness; unpleasant taste; vomiting.

Seek medical attention right away if any of these SEVERE side effects occur when using Lunesta:

Severe allergic reactions (rash; hives; itching; difficulty breathing; tightness in the chest; swelling of the mouth, face, lips, or tongue; unusual hoarseness); aggressive behavior; breast growth; chest pain; confusion; depression; hallucinations; memory problems (such as amnesia); mental or mood changes; painful menstrual periods; seizures; severe mood swings; suicidal thoughts; swelling of hands or feet; symptoms of infection (eg, fever, sore throat, sinus or chest congestion); unusual or disturbing thoughts.

This is not a complete list of all side effects that may occur. If you have questions about side effects, contact your health care provider. Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. To report side effects to the appropriate agency, please read the Guide to Reporting Problems to FDA.

www.drugs.com...

Now this is just the side effects for this particular drug, as other drugs are have less or more effects then others.

Now this is the line that this thread is about.

Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. To report side effects to the appropriate agency, please read the Guide to Reporting Problems to FDA.

This is not an over the counter medication, it has to be prescribed by a doctor. There are many lawsuits that are currently being filed by people that have had sever problems due to certain medications and its effects, and some have even died. When you see a commercial or advertisement asking those who were effected by any or all of the side effects, the company is being sued.

After listening to the lengthy side effects, the commercial blatantly says,"talk to you doctor, to see if this is right for you". So, I ask. Which doctors are prescribing, these medications that have over the top side effects such as the above? How could a doctor not be held solely responsible for this horrible misdiagnosis, to the point where companies are being sued in the thousands?

So I decided to reacquaint myself to the Hippocratic Oath. Come to find out there are 3 versions.
Original.Original, translated into English:[4]

“ I swear by Apollo, the healer, Asclepius, Hygieia, and Panacea, and I take to witness all the gods, all the goddesses, to keep according to my ability and my judgment, the following Oath and agreement:

To consider dear to me, as my parents, him who taught me this art; to live in common with him and, if necessary, to share my goods with him; To look upon his children as my own brothers, to teach them this art.

I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone.

I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan; and similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion.

But I will preserve the purity of my life and my arts.

I will not cut for stone, even for patients in whom the disease is manifest; I will leave this operation to be performed by practitioners, specialists in this art.

In every house where I come I will enter only for the good of my patients, keeping myself far from all intentional ill-doing and all seduction and especially from the pleasures of love with women or with men, be they free or slaves.

All that may come to my knowledge in the exercise of my profession or in daily commerce with men, which ought not to be spread abroad, I will keep secret and will never reveal.

If I keep this oath faithfully, may I enjoy my life and practice my art, respected by all men and in all times; but if I swerve from it or violate it, may the reverse be my lot.

Classic

Classic translation into English:[5]
“ I swear by Apollo the Physician and Asclepius and Hygieia and Panaceia and all the gods, and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will fulfill according to my ability and judgment this oath and this covenant:

To hold him who has taught me this art as equal to my parents and to live my life in partnership with him, and if he is in need of money to give him a share of mine, and to regard his offspring as equal to my brothers in male lineage and to teach them this art–if they desire to learn it–without fee and covenant; to give a share of precepts and oral instruction and all the other learning to my sons and to the sons of him who has instructed me and to pupils who have signed the covenant and have taken the oath according to medical law, but to no one else.

I will apply dietic measures for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgment; I will keep them from harm and injustice.

I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. In purity and holiness I will guard my life and my art.

I will not use the knife, not even on sufferers from stone, but will withdraw in favor of such men as are engaged in this work.

Whatever houses I may visit, I will come for the benefit of the sick, remaining free of all intentional injustice, of all mischief and in particular of sexual relations with both female and male persons, be they free or slaves.

What I may see or hear in the course of treatment or even outside of the treatment in regard to the life of men, which on no account one must spread abroad, I will keep myself holding such things shameful to be spoken about.

If I fulfill this oath and do not violate it, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and art, being honoured with fame among all men for all time to come; if I transgress it and swear falsely, may the opposite of all this be my lot.
”

In the 1870s, many American medical schools chose to abandon the Hippocratic Oath as part of graduation ceremonies, usually substituting a version modified to something considered more politically and medically correct, or an alternate pledge like the Oath of Maimonides.

The Hippocratic Oath has been updated by the Declaration of Geneva. In the United Kingdom, the General Medical Council provides clear modern guidance in the form of its Duties of a Doctor[6] and Good Medical Practice[7] statements.

Modern

A widely used modern version of the traditional oath was penned in 1964 by Dr. Louis Lasagna, former Principal of the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences and Academic Dean of the School of Medicine at Tufts University:[8]
“ 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 [that] 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. If it is given to me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. 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.

en.wikipedia.org...

Now with all 3 versions, though similar there are certain words that have been used and rephrased. Our language has not changed so much that we cannot see what words matter, and which actually sound like an agreement to just do the best they can.

Here are a few things that caught my eye about the modern version. (I am sticking to the modern version as it is what is applied today).

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

The word [that] is in written that way on its own. Now if I were to go to the doctor, and am fully aware that I would only get whats required, and NOT fully beneficial to my health, would I go another route?

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

This put a red flag up for me, as this can be interpreted in many ways.

Now based on the different wording from all 3 Oaths, there seems to be a separation formed through the different versions. Why would a doctor not be held responsible for prescribing a drug that can harm or kill me. He has my medical records, history, and is fully aware of what the drug will do to me and my loved ones.

I am sure that many will say that money, and sometimes even pressure for doctors to say yes to a patient, is what makes these drugs so readily available, but who really needs to be accountable. Does this change the way that you see your doctor? Will you ask your physician which of the 3 Oaths do they adhere to? If this was more readily available at lets say the doctors office, would you rethink, or get more than one opinion concerning your medical care?

Peace, NRE.

This put a red flag up for me, as this can be interpreted in many ways.

The focus of modern medicine is to prevent illness/injury before it occurs, which is why we put so much research into lipid-lowering drugs (to prevent cardiovascular disease), glucose-control drugs (to prevent diabetic neuropathy/nephropathy/retinopathy), early detection/screening kits for severe illness (to prevent more severe or chronic forms), etc.

reply to post by NoRegretsEver


Star and flag, welcome to McKaiser!
I had a similar situation....well a few anyway.
As i have mentioned in a few other threads i am kind of...well skrood, long story short.
One of the things that i have found from all of the tests i have taken as of late is my heart is as strong as a 14 year old boy, (Cardiologists words) and my lungs have a normal o2 levels.
Now with this in mind i smoke like Dennis Leary and have since 7 yes 7 years old.
With this in mind my Doctor tries to put me on a med to see if it will help.
The med had several side effects but the one that really caught me was swollen heart ...
Ok so the one organ i have in tip top shape they wanna blow up?
Welcome to McKaiser...

reply to post by NoRegretsEver


Two thoughts.

First, Doctors in general are not required to take the oath anymore.

Two, Prevent disease...not cure. That means keeping the patient healthy in the first place, so they don't get sick. This is actually the Eastern philosophy of medicine. If you stay healthy in the first place, then you don't need to worry about cures.

i can see where you are coming from though, it sounds like they are supporting the "treat, not cure" money-making philosophy of big-pharmaceutical.

Originally posted by Byteman
reply to post by NoRegretsEver

 

Two thoughts.

First, Doctors in general are not required to take the oath anymore.

Two, Prevent disease...not cure. That means keeping the patient healthy in the first place, so they don't get sick. This is actually the Eastern philosophy of medicine. If you stay healthy in the first place, then you don't need to worry about cures.

i can see where you are coming from though, it sounds like they are supporting the "treat, not cure" money-making philosophy of big-pharmaceutical.

Thanks for that, I wonder if many people are aware of that. How many people walk into a doctors office and assume that they have taken an Oath, that is supposed to separate them from the quacks.

Also to prevent disease is a great thing, but how many doctors are actually doing that? Many of the drugs that are being prescribed and used as "preventative" care, are many of the drugs that are making people even worse, or even killing them.

Peace, NRE.

reply to post by VneZonyDostupa


I wouldn't buy that.
I have done some study on Nsaids, it would seem they kill more than they help.
Plus why take them when the same thing can be done with clean water and oatmeal?

Originally posted by g146541
reply to post by VneZonyDostupa

 

I have done some study on Nsaids, it would seem they kill more than they help.

And how do you know how many they help? They are given as preventative medicine to stop a clot from forming, so it's impossible to measure exactly how many clots NSAIDs have prevented. We do know, however, the percent reduction in clots a population experiences when taking NSAIDs.

Plus why take them when the same thing can be done with clean water and oatmeal?

Because oatmeal and water DON'T do the same thing. At all. In any way.

One of the things to remember is that medicine is not health care, it is sick care or crisis care, just like health insurance is really sick insurance and both are controlled by big pharma. They fund medical colleges, they provide the continuing education seminars (about 90% of them) where they pay the speaker and then bribe doctors to prescribe their products. Having health check-ups is not prevention because obviously some problems begin at the cellular level and do not become visible for years. I only use professions that promote health as my health care, Chiropractors, acupuncturist's, nutritionist, exercise specialist etc. The beauty of this is you get to take care of the most important organ you have with these types of professionals and many cross over into other healthy practices. It's time medicine stayed with what they do best which is crisis care, and leave health to those that actually teach their patients about it.