The Effect of Medicine

The Greek view of medicine is encapsulated in Hippocrates' 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 Socrates' 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 doct

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le poorer areas are badly underserved. Is the solution to redistribute the doctors? That may not be possible. But those areas in which there are not enough doctors can still receive proper health care via other means. Physician assistants and nurse practitioners, for example, are highly trained health care providers who can serve as gatekeepers, much like the corpsmen apply immediate aid on the battlefield before sending the wounded soldiers onto the hospital. English philosopher Francis Bacon also criticized the science of medicine in a way that still resonates today. He faulted medicine for its inability to learn from history. Yes, the science had progressed, he noted, but we still have much to learn from history. ôThis continuance of medicinal history I find deficient; which I understand neither to be so infinite as to extend to every common case, nor so reserved as to admit none but wonders: for many things are new in the manner, which are not new in the kind; and if men will intent to observe, they shall find much worthy to observeö (Bacon 52). In Bacon's day, postmortems were rare and superficial. He thought this a mistake. ô[A]s for the footsteps of disease, and their devastations of the inward partsàthey ought t
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Approximate Word count = 1746
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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