It's Here! The New & Improved Ron Paul/Tea Party Hippocratic Oath!

[hatrack]

I swear by Apollo, the healer, Asclepius, Hygieia and Panacea, and I take to witness all the gods, all the goddesses, to keep according to my ability and my judgment, the following Oath and agreement:

To consider dear to me, as my parents, him who taught me this art, to live in common with him and, if necessary, to share my goods with him, though frankly this strikes me as little more than class warfare; to look upon his children as my own brothers, to teach them this art, provided they’re ready to pony up medical school tuition.

I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment, provided they can pay me, and never do harm to anyone, unless I perceive that they lack insurance and may be left to the mercies of the churches which, as I vaguely remember from back in the 1960s, provide medical assistance.

I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, unless they are convicted felons in the state of Texas, nor will I advise such a plan, unless I am a Presidential candidate; and similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion since that behavior would clearly be wrong!

But I will preserve the purity of my life and my arts whenever convenient to do so.

I will not cut for stone, even for patients in whom the disease is manifest; I will leave this operation to be performed by practitioners, specialists in this art, since the cash flow necessary for the extra insurance premiums they have to carry (suckers!) interferes with my boat payments.

In every house where I come I will enter only for the good of my patients, keeping myself far from all intentional ill-doing and all seduction and especially from the pleasures of love with women or with men, be they free or slaves; however, this injunction against potential rape will have no bearing on how much I can charge, since the free market will sort it all out anyway.

All that may come to my knowledge in the exercise of my profession or in daily commerce with men, which ought not to be spread abroad, I will keep secret and will never reveal, except to the insurance claims adjusters, the HMOs and the PPOs, the hospital administrators, the electronic medical records companies, the prescription drug industries, political action committees and the AMA.

If I keep this oath faithfully, may I enjoy my life and practice my art, respected by all men and in all times; but if I swerve from it or violate it, that’s what freedom’s about, taking your own risks.

[jwirr]

1. Very good. I am so frustrated. Ron Paul needs to be called on his

lies. He says that the churches took care of the sick in the 60s. Maybe the 1560s. In the 1960s each state had several programs - Aide to the Elderly and Indigent, Aide to the disabled and Assistance to the Blind. All of these programs were rolled into one federal program (at the request of the states) called Medicaid. Later Medicare was modeled after these programs but was no longer calling for members to be low income. Paul is lying and I think he is doing it deliberately.

This is the genesis of many programs: the commodities programs are now the food stamp programs.

I suspect he was following your oath in his private practice long before he became a politician.

[Scurrilous]

2. K & R

:thumbsup: