First, do no harm

"First, do no harm." That most basic
principle of the Hippocratic Oath has
formed the foundation for medical
ethics for over 2,000 years. Neverthe-
less, that principle is now routinely
redefined or ignored, and the field
of medical ethics is filled with com-
promises, conflicts, and worse.

Clear evidence of this is found in a
prophetic warning issued by Eugene
F. Diamond, a practicing pediatrician
and Professor of Pediatrics at Loyola
University Stritch School of Medicine.
Writing in Ethics and Medicine: An
International Journal of Bioethics,
Diamond warns that dangerous con-
flicts of interest are being institution-
alized and normalized in the field of
medicine.

In Dr. Diamond's view, the state of the
medical profession today represents
a gross violation of the physician's
moral responsibility. "We have in
recent years seen an attempt to
convert our profession to a killing
activity. Doctors as abortionists kill
unborn children; doctors accept the
responsibility to kill patients with
or without their consent as in Holland
or to engage in the subterfuge of
physician-assisted suicide as in
the state of Oregon in America.
The doctor true to his calling will
not violate the taboo against killing.
He will not do it for love and he will
not do it for money."

Those are strong words. Diamond
clearly believes that physicians are
not to kill. This flies in the face of
the complicity of many doctors in
the Culture of Death and its business
of killing by abortion, euthanasia,
and the selective denial of human dignity.

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