[If] I were asked by you what is the use or effect of medicine, which is this science of health, I should answer that medicine is of very great use in producing health, which, as you will admit, is an excellent effect.ö Greek philosopher Socrates (Plato 7) offered that bit of wisdom more than two millennia ago in one of PlatoÆs Dialogues, but it is worth reminding ourselves of that simple thought today as the ôscience of healthö faces some very serious challenges. Compassion, the cornerstone of the Hippocratic oath, seems to have been replaced in American medicine by a cold, corporate heart. This paper will examine that transition through the lens of Socrates, Plato, and other great philosophers.
The Greek view of medicine is encapsulated in HippocratesÆ famous oath. ôI will follow that system of regimen which, according to my ability and judgment, I consider for the benefit of my patients, and abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievousö (Ouwendijk and Rednour). Doctors in health maintenance organizations (HMOs) are finding it increasingly difficult to live up to that ideal amidst corporate pressure to reduce costs.
Admittedly, HMOs and other indices of corporate medicine did not exist in SocratesÆ time. Yet his comments continue to reflect the core values of medicine. As he tells Critias, ô[H]e who would enquire into the nature of medicine must pursue the enquiry into health and disease, and not into what is extraneousö (Plato 11). Welcome words for doctors whose ability to care for patients is often overwhelmed by the business and insurance facets of the health care industry.
Later in the exchange, Socrates asks, ôBut can any one attain the knowledge of either [health or disease] unless he have a knowledge of medicine?ö Critias says no, so Socrates concludes, ôNo one at all, it would seem, except the physician can have this knowledge; and therefore not the wise man; he would have to be a phy...