The Hippocratic Oath

The Hippocratic Oath

We give a nod of gratitude to those bound by an ancient document, with a very modern purpose:  the Hippocratic Oath. 

It's a contract more than 2,000 years old, and while it's evolved over the millennia, it's perhaps more sacred than ever, especially now that we're mired in a health crisis that Hippocrates himself could only have feared.

One modern version of the oath reads in part: "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."

Today there is no "chemist's drug" to fight the coronavirus (not yet, anyway), and on top of that, masks, gowns and gloves – those paper-thin barriers between sickness and health – are in impossibly high demand, which makes the oath's "warmth, care and understanding" promise dangerous to keep.

The exhausted doctors and nurses fighting the coronavirus are our best hope, unwavering in their sacred task to tend the sick and suffering, even as they put themselves in danger. CBS News

Our exhausted doctors and nurses are often forced to re-use masks; some are simply going without.

That may soon leave many of our healthcare workers unprotected, charging up this viral hill every day, knowing they may die on it.

It's becoming increasingly possible that the physician you have today could be another physician's patient tomorrow.

There is no greater calling than tending to the sick and suffering.

But it doesn't require an oath; what it requires is courage, selflessness and compassion, all traits seemingly in ample supply in our medical community, thank goodness.

Because these are the souls who are our best hope.

         
Story produced by Aria Shavelson. Editor: Emanuele Secci. 

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