The Hippocrates Oath

It seems that today many doctors ( not all though ) have forgotten about this promise which they made ...basically to save lives.In their quest for materialistic wealth many doctors have thrown their principles to the wind. Take the case of my nephew who nearly lost his life because of carelessness , and low quality medical treatment.He was not feeling well and admitted himself to the hospital nearest his home where he was diagnosed as having gastric problem.This happened from 11 am in the morning and it was only in the late evening that he was told there was some problem with his heart.The doctor insisted that he be admitted to a hospital in Klang , blatantly telling him that there are no vacancies in the hospitals nearby. It was a good thing my nephew out of desperation called us and it so happened we have a doctor friend in one of the hospitals.She told us to send him over to her hospital immediately which we did amidst the protests of the first doctor. My nephew was checked that night and immediately admitted The first doctor had the audacity to say all nearby hospitals were full ).The next day they did an operation on him and managed to clear two of his blocked vessels and today he is fine and about to be discharged. I cant imagine what a scoundrel the first doctor was, scaring people and putting his own vested interest first instead of that of the patient. There is another story which my friend witnessed himself. There was this elderly lady who went to see a doctor and when she came out she was in tears and my friend kindly asked her what was the problem and she said the doctor asked her to leave his room as she could not pay the fee he wanted. What happened to the Oath taken ? To treat the sick and to save lives ? Today , sadly . many doctors see patients as cash cows and irrespective of their sickness and their ability to pay.We would expect a doctor to save lives first and then talk of payment but this is not happening. Why ? Its not difficult to answer ...greed above all things else.If you have money I will happily treat you , if not ..that's your problem. Pretty disappointing and definitely tarnishing the reputation of the medical profession.The late Karpal Singh was a brilliant criminal lawyer and he never turned his back on anyone who needed his services.To him , help the person first , money is secondary.That is a true professional and a man who lived by the ethics of his profession.