“I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:

I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.

I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.

I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon’s knife or the chemist’s drug.

I will not be ashamed to say “I know not,” nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient’s recovery.

I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.

I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person’s family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.

I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.

I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.

If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.”

 

That is the modern version of the Hippocratic Oath written in 1964 by Louis Lasagna, Academic Dean of the School of Medicine at Tufts University, and used in many medical schools today. Although the Hippocratic Oath does not actually contain the phrase “Do no harm” as many people believe it does, such an intention can be gathered from the many forms of the oath, including this one above.

 Something that occurred to me a couple of months ago is that, in their treatment of Fibromites, many doctors do not uphold the Hipppocratic Oath. How often do support group leaders hear someone say:

“The doctor said they didn’t know what to do to treat Fibromyalgia, but said that they would consult other doctors and refer me to specialists in order to try and find treatments, as well as reassurring me that even if nothing was yet available to completely manage my Fibromyalgia, advances are being made all the time”?

 Never, is my experience. What you do hear, and depressingly often is:

 ”The Doctor said there was nothing to be done for Fibromyalgia.”

This statement simply isn’t true: there are many treatment and management options available for Fibromyalgia, including some medications that are now “on-label” for Fibromyalgia with the US FDA. But many doctors tell patients the above statment and many patients then suffer unneccesarily, sometimes for years, believing that the doctor must know best. Patients become depressed as this attitude kills hope and who would not get depressed at being told, possibly when you are young, that excruiating agony, the need for care and diminishing health is all you have to look forward to?

 Even if a doctor does not know anything of all the options now available for the treatment of Fibromyalgia, they should never, ever, ever say this to a patient. They should do as the Lasagna Hippocratic Oath says and “not be ashamed to say “I know not,” nor…fail to call in… colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient’s recovery”. They should “apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism” and remember that they “treat… a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person’s family and economic stability.”

Above all, doctors should remember to “prevent disease whenever [they] can, for prevention is preferable to cure”. A doctor causing depression and causing stress that could easily lead to the worsening of a patient’s condition, is violating their Oath. But so many doctors do so when faced with Fibromyalgia patients. Why do we let them? Why aren’t they held to account?