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Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
The Hippocratic Oath: 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 [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 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.
January 11, 2011 – Today, Dr. Conrad Murray is indicted for manslaughter in the death of Michael Joseph Jackson (1958-2009)
THE HIPPOCRATIC OATH TODAY: MEANINGLESS RELIC OR INVALUABLE MORAL GUIDE?
The Hippocratic Oath is one of the oldest binding documents in history. Written in antiquity, its principles are held sacred by doctors to this day: treat the sick to the best of one's ability, preserve patient privacy, teach the secrets of medicine to the next generation, and so on. "The Oath of Hippocrates," holds the American Medical Association's Code of Medical Ethics (1996 edition), "has remained in Western civilization as an expression of ideal conduct for the physician." Today, most graduating medical-school students swear to some form of the oath, usually a modernized version. Indeed, oath-taking in recent decades has risen to near uniformity, with just 24 percent of U.S. medical schools administering the oath in 1928 to nearly 100 percent today.
Yet paradoxically, even as the modern oath's use has burgeoned, its content has tacked away from the classical oath's basic tenets. According to a 1993* survey of 150 U.S. and Canadian medical schools, for example, only 14 percent of modern oaths prohibit euthanasia, 11 percent hold convenant with a deity, 8 percent foreswear abortion, and a mere 3 percent forbid sexual contact with patients—all maxims held sacred in the classical version. The original calls for free tuition for medical students and for doctors never to "use the knife" (that is, conduct surgical procedures)—both obviously out of step with modern-day practice. Perhaps most telling, while the classical oath calls for "the opposite" of pleasure and fame for those who transgress the oath, fewer than half of oaths taken today insist the taker be held accountable for keeping the pledge.
Indeed, a growing number of physicians have come to feel that the Hippocratic Oath is inadequate to address the realities of a medical world that has witnessed huge scientific, economic, political, and social changes, a world of legalized abortion, physician-assisted suicide, and pestilences unheard of in Hippocrates' time. Some doctors have begun asking pointed questions regarding the oath's relevance: In an environment of increasing medical specialization, should physicians of such different stripes swear to a single oath? With governments and health-care organizations demanding patient information as never before, how can a doctor maintain a patient's privacy? Are physicians morally obligated to treat patients with such lethal new diseases as AIDS or the Ebola virus?
Other physicians are taking broader aim. Some claim that the principles enshrined in the oath never constituted a shared core of moral values, that the oath's pagan origins and moral cast make it antithetical to beliefs held by Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Others note that the classical Oath makes no mention of such contemporary issues as the ethics of experimentation, team care, or a doctor's societal or legal responsibilities. (Most modern oaths, in fact, are penalty-free, with no threat to potential transgressors of loss of practice or even of face.)
With all this in mind, some doctors see oath-taking as little more than a pro-forma ritual with little value beyond that of upholding tradition. "The original oath is redolent of a convenant, a solemn and binding treaty," writes Dr. David Graham in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association (12/13/00). "By contrast, many modern oaths have a bland, generalized air of 'best wishes' about them, being near-meaningless formalities devoid of any influence on how medicine is truly practiced." Some physicians claim what they call the "Hypocritic Oath" should be radically modified or abandoned altogether.
Non-doctor responses/post your thoughts…
*Orr, R. D., N. Pang, E. D. Pellegrino, and M. Siegler. 1997. "Use of the Hippocratic Oath: A Review of Twentieth Century Practice and a Content Analysis of Oaths Administered in Medical Schools in the U.S. and Canada in 1993." The Journal of Clinical Ethics 8 (Winter): 377-388.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
erykah badu on Michael . . .
Fresh off her amazing solo performance and crowd-thrilling guest appearance with Snoop Dogg at Bonnaroo, Erykah Badu will make a "surprise" appearance tonight on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. She'll be playing in and with Fallon's house band, The Roots, according to publicist Paul Levatino.
No word on which or how many songs she'll do, but some kind of tribute to Michael Jackson is certainly a possibility. Last night, Badu released a statement with her thoughts about the passing of the King of Pop. [The full text of her statement is after the jump.]
“It's taken me a moment to grasp this ... I understand life and death are part of the same magnificent cycle. But...
.. I literally stopped and broke down When I received 'that' text. Mike's music lives in my DNA. It's bigger than tabloids...
..that music shaped me. The frequency is real My heart and artistry are truly influenced and forever impacted....
Thank you michael for your hard work, dedication, philanthropy, & the sacrifice of your young spirit. Your vision and imagination live thru us.
I don't know what to say.
When I hear his music it takes me back to a time, place, smell, event...
Even Say Say Say
Ooh lord ebony and ivory..
'I can't help it '...From off the wall.
Lady in my life ... umph
What a feeling ... What feeling ... What a feeling!!!
Annie are you ok . . .
Fri., Jun. 26 2009 @ 11:37AM
http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/dc9/2009/06/erykah_badu_to_appear_on_jimmy.php#
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Michael Jackson: New Album Zooms to Number… Five?
My response to above article….
"A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country, and in his own house..." In other words, someone is more likely to be appreciated & respected everywhere else (& by everyone else), EXCEPT in his own country, hometown, or house …we build them up to tear them down.
OT: Taylor Swift is so young & soaring so high, right now…heaven help her…
Yes, I have the CD & I love it!
Friday, January 7, 2011
Jackson dead before paramedics arrived, court told (Yahoo news article)
My Yahoo response to Headhunter's ignorant & insensitive comment...
"...what other drugs had he been involved with ?" Well, gee - let's go back & read the autopsy report. Let's read what traces of drugs were found in his blood stream & organs. Speaking of organs, let's also read how damaged his organs were . . . " MJ wasn't no Lindsey Lohan. His time in rehab (to help him kick his addiction to prescription meds) was successful. Michael's death was the result of receiving "hollywood healthcare" by a star-struck, money-hungry, incompetent, enabling, "alleged medical professional" - who, scarily, is licensed to perform heart surgery, but doesn't know how to perform CPR.
I, too, know what an addict looks like.
Mike wasn't it.
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