as seen on tv
Senator
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MEASLES_OUTBREAK?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-01-29-17-06-21
I don’t know about you, but I haven’t had to show my “MMR” (measles mumps rubella) vaccination certificate to anyone since grade school. Now, there’s a trend among doctors to refuse treatment to unvaccinated patients. (“Sorry doc – I think I left my vaccination record at my mom’s house, in the basement, when I moved out over 10 years ago. Want me drive fly to Florida and see if she kept it when she moved there?”)
Disneyland is probably going to require vaccination records to obtain entry in the future. "The happiest place on earth" doesn’t want to be remembered as the epicenter of the next global plague, for sure. The media is now worried about a measles epidemic starting at the super bowl. Evidently this is now a greater threat to America than a terrorist attack?
A few months ago it was Ebola. The Obama administration ordered up 70,000 “hazmat/moon suits” for key government employees. I think 69,500 of these might still be in the opened packages. That’s not enough for everyone with Superbowl tickets, but at least we could protect VIPs in skyboxes, level one $2,000 seats, and the announcers, right?
I’m not a doctor. Or a lawyer. My father suggested I consider dentistry or the law as a career. I told him I didn’t think I had it in me to sue people all day long, or drill mercilessly into their teeth while chastising them on their failure to floss after every croissant. So take my “medical ethics” advice with a grain of salt (but not too much salt, since that can cause high blood pressure):
Doctors (and nurses) – it’s a slippery slope from refusing treatment to unvaccinated patients to extending this bias to other things you might disagree with. Smoking and alcohol kill hundreds of thousands of Americans a year. People get fat from eating too much fat, and sugar, and empty carbs. And heaven help us if a patient shows up wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with an abortion position that is different from your own.
Where should we draw the line, now that people without their measles certificates are being told to take a hike?
Full disclosure – the Hyppocratic Oath doesn’t say at all what we think it does. Here’s the complete text below. No wonder Doctors are often confused about their responsibilities, eh? (my commentary is in bold italics) . . .
I swear by Apollo the physician that I will observe and keep this underwritten oath, to the utmost of my power and judgment. (This isn’t going to please doctors – or patients who don’t worship Apollo. Although Apollo does sound somewhat similar “Allah” if you’re not paying close attention)
I will reverence my master who taught me the art. Equally with my parents, will I allow him things necessary for his support, and will consider his sons as brothers. I will teach them my art without reward or agreement; and I will impart all my acquirement, instructions, and whatever I know, to my master's children, as to my own; and likewise to all my pupils, who shall bind and tie themselves by a professional oath, but to none else. (The American Medical Association requires all aspiring physicians to obtain instruction at a legitimate medical school. You may not practice medicine after simply apprenticing with the local sawbones.)
With regard to healing the sick, I will devise and order for them the best diet, according to my judgment and means; and I will take care that they suffer no hurt or damage. (This is evidently related to the “First do no harm” mantra most of us identify as the oath. Is refusing to see someone with different social views in the zone of “do no harm”?)
Nor shall any man's entreaty prevail upon me to administer poison to anyone; neither will I counsel any man to do so. Moreover, I will get no sort of medicine to any pregnant woman, with a view to destroy the child. (Wow – this is an eye opener, eh?)
Further, I will comport myself and use my knowledge in a godly manner. (But which god, infidel? Speak quickly, before I sever your neck!!)
Whatsoever house I may enter, my visit shall be for the convenience and advantage of the patient; and I will willingly refrain from doing any injury or wrong from falsehood, and (in an especial manner) from acts of an amorous nature, whatever may be the rank of those who it may be my duty to cure, whether mistress or servant, bond or free. (House calls? House calls? When the hell was this written? 3,000 years ago? And "amorous nature "? ?? Was this a big problem in ancient Greece - the doctor sneaking upstairs with the comely handmaiden? The oath should be updated to something like “I will keep the lines in my waiting room under 90 minutes at all times”)
If I faithfully observe this oath, may I thrive and prosper in my fortune and profession, and live in the estimation of posterity; or on breach thereof, may the reverse be my fate! (Prosper in my fortune – they always put the most important stuff at the end, eh?)