The revised Hippocratic oath? This is fantastic if true !!!!

[Guest guest]

there are so many problems with this that i don't know where to begin, but i'll

give it a shot

 

1. "unnecessary medicines" - what does this mean exactly? this is in

the eye of the beholder - does this exclude trial and error, which is a

time honored approach in ayurveda?

 

2. "I shall NOT overcharge and accept cuts and gifts " - not accept

ANY gifts? you mean that when my patient brings me a small token of

appreciation, such as some home baking or their child's artwork that i

should reject it? "Get thee out damned woman, and taketh thy biscuits

and putteth them where the sunneth donneth shinneth!!")

 

3. "I shall NOT prescribe lethal drugs " - lethal drugs? what's the

criteria for this? anything is lethal, its a matter of DOSE - i often

use toxic botanicals, e.g. dhattura, but i know how to use them safely

- this requirement would certainly cast a dim view of ayurvedic

bhasmas, by any perspective... do you think people taking digitalis

should stop?

 

4. "I shall NOT rape tiny tots..." - rape tiny tots??? i can see that

the author here is really trying really hard to win over his audience -

c'mon! what doctor goes through 8+ years of med school just so he/she

can rape little children? they may be ignorant on some issues, but

MOST MDs are well-intentioned... THIS is what we need to talk to if we

want change...

 

5. "...AIDS, cancers, diabetes has no cure..." - regarding the word

"cure" - ayurveda recognizes several disease that are incurable and

states this explicitly - i think we can all agree that some diseases

simply have no cure no matter what you do, think or believe, e.g. type

I diabetes - does this fellow have no concept of palliative medicine???

 

6. "I shall not frighten my patients..." - frighten patients? some

patients need the cards to be laid on the table my friend - somebody

with NIDDM that continues to drink soft drinks and eat lots of starchy

foods NEEDS to be told the awful truth of retinopathy, neuropathy, CVD,

kidney failure, etc. etc. - fear is IMPORTANT, but only inasmuch as it

leads to proactive responses

 

7. "... ban the useless and cruel animal experiments " - animal

experiments are not "useless" - they may not be ethical depending upon

your perspective, but they certainly aren't useless - in her excellent

book "Molecules of Emotion" Candice Pert gets into this in detail,

being a researcher that has sacrificed her share of animals to

understand the role of heroin addiction and the discovery of opiate

receptors that lead to the development of methadone treatment -

further, most people don't realize that because they use "cruelty free"

products that many of the ingredients in them were at some point tested

on animals - now some may suggest that the results of animal

experiments cannot be extrapolated to humans, but this is only

partially true, and simply generates confidence in a working hypothesis

that needs further study - as for herbs, we have the benefit of

millions of hours of empirical evidence, so animal experimental

research is not required

 

8. "I shall not consume alcohol, smoke tobacco, or take other narcotic

and psychtropic substances. As far as possible, I shall also not take

animal proteins" - more uninformed hackneyed cultural imperialism -

ayurveda recommends the regular consumption of wine to enhance

digestion; tobacco is a sacred herb among first nations peoples -would

you deprive people of their sacrament? narcotics??? what is a narcotic

- a poorly defined term that has more to do with politics than

medicine. for pete's sake BETEL NUT IS A NARCOTIC, and is recommended

in ALL ayurvedic texts as part of dinacharya!!! some "narcotics" are

good for pain, e.g. ganja in MS - personally, i won't have some holier

than thou "holistic doctor" tell my patients that pain relief is

unnecessary and they should suck it up for his ethical benefit... and

psychotropics??? lets see, that means all of the MEDHYA RASAYANAS in

the materia medica of ayurveda, not to mentioned the HUNDREDS of

medicinal plants used by herbalists and shamans all over the world for

mental and spiritual healing!!! we should dispense with them because

they exert their effects upon the brain, and can change mood and

behaviour? as far as eating meat goes, i would like to see how far this

doctor gets telling an inuit healer in the Canadian arctic to munch on

raw carrots...

 

9. "I realize and aver that a great responsibility of people's

well-being is upon my shoulders and I shall carry on my onerous task

with utmost dedication." onerus??? ONERUS???!!! as healers we do this

not out of a sense of self-sacrifice but out of LOVE and RESPECT for

our fellow humans - it is not onerus to be of assistance, but

personally rewarding!!!! if it isn't then GET ANOTHER JOB!!! clearly

this fellow has no idea how to protect himself spiritually from his

patients and believes that in order to be helpful you have to be JESUS

CHRIST himself ('scuze me, my stigmatas start to bleed when i get

excited...)

 

the fellow appears to be nothing more than a new age fundamentalist

hack, and there will be little acceptance of this nonsensical document

among anybody that actually works with patients day in and day out

 

ayurveda already states what qualities are required of both the doctor

and the patient, and since this is a list on ayurveda we should debate

the merits of this - charaka has clearly stated these points

 

it is for all the reasons above that ayurveda is so much wiser, so much

more profound than the nonsense that emanates from the vacuous

spongiform intelligence of this fellow - beware this NEW AGE, lest

shall we perish amongst our crystals and aromatherapy candles

 

todd caldecott

 

 

On 28-Jun-05, at 6:00 AM, ayurveda wrote:

 

> This more comprehensive Oath was drawn by Dr. Leo Rebello in 2003,

> since Hippocrates Oath is now partly outdated being centuries old.

> This revised Oath has been widely circulated, accepted and

> appreciated.

>

 

 

Caldecott

todd

www.toddcaldecott.com