All physicians take the Hippocratic oath.
Most of us really do try and live by it by doing the right thing for the patient, while also doing no harm.
However, physicians aren’t the only ones who interact with patients and provide care. Mostly everyone who delivers patient care through contact will try and live by the Hippocratic oath, even if they have never made the oath out loud themselves.
One of the problem with our healthcare system is that there are some major entities who are intimately involved in patient care, who do not take the Hippocratic oath, and are not bound by the Hippocratic oath: health insurance companies, hospital administration. There are some players in those entities who are trying to do the right thing, but they are often drowned out by the corporate vision of money above all else.
Insurance companies deny routine care, or make patients and physicians jump through many hoops to get it.
Insurance companies deny routine care, or make patients and physicians jump through many hoops to get it. Click To Tweet
Hospitals treat their patients like numbers, caring only about productivity and liability. Many of the problems in our system stem from those who did not take or live by the Hippocratic oath making medical decisions by proxy. The solution lies in making them obsolete.
