A reminder on this holiday for the Knights of St. John, Rhodes and Malta

[formercia]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7654432.stm
A guide to the Hippocratic Oath

By Dr Daniel Sokol
Medical ethicist

Written nearly 2,500 years ago, the Oath is the most famous text in Western medicine, yet most people (including doctors) know precious little about it.

--snip--

The Oath continues: "And I will use treatments for the benefit of the ill in accordance with my ability and my judgment, but from what is to their harm and injustice I will keep them."

In other words, doctors should act in the best interests of their patients, and when unjust circumstances arise - for instance, a certain life-prolonging drug may not be available on the NHS - they should strive to correct the injustice harming their patients.

The next part seemingly concerns euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide, saying: "And I will not give a drug that is deadly to anyone if asked, nor will I suggest the way to such a counsel."

Two leading scholars of the Oath, Littre and Miles, have however suggested that this passage alludes to the then common practice of using doctors as skilled political assassins.

Steven Miles notes: "Fear of the physician-poisoner may be traced very close to the time of the Oath."
--snip--


This should be required reading for physicians belonging to the the Order of the Knights of St. John, Rhodes and Malta, this day being one of their high holidays.

You can find them this weekend at the Mayflower in Washington DC where they have congregated for their annual installation ceremony.

They used to hold it at the Hall of Flags at the Chamber of Commerce building, but since netroots exposed their connection to the Chamber of Commerce, they were forced to pay out their hard earned loot for other digs.

[RB TexLa]

1. "And I will not give a drug that is deadly to anyone if asked, nor will I suggest the way to

such a counsel."

No you egotistical assholes, you do what you are paid to do. People determine if that is what they want not you.

[Sal Minella]

2. Easy to read this as "I will not hand over a poisonous drug to someone who may use it against

someone else, nor advise anyone how to obtain such a drug." Would be interesting to be able to read this in the original. If physicians' humanely caring for their patients is really the primary goal, then prolonging the final agony would serve no purpose.

[formercia]

3. Therein lies the rub.

Interesting, what tack this thread has taken....

I guess some people have not heard of Hospice.