Mindful of Hippocratic oath

A life is a life

Regarding “Pointless accusations” (Page A33, June 3), I know nothing about the controversy concerning Dr. Bud Frazier at the Texas Heart Institute, but I was concerned about the response of Dr. William Granberry, chief of staff at Baylor St. Luke’s Hosptial, in his letter to the editor. He supported Dr. Frazier, but added that he hoped that the journalists who reported on him did not have a heart attack. If they did, he indicated they might consider the Cayman Islands or Europe, implying that Texas Heart Institute doctors would deny them help. This basing of medical care on personal preferences rather than on human need is less than the ideal we should be working for.

We can think of Ronald Reagan’s near assassination early in his administration. He said, jokingly, that he hoped his surgeons were all Republicans. Whatever party they belonged to, the medical team at George Washington University Hospital did their best to provide care, and he survived to live out his presidency.

When President Kennedy was assassinated, all of the doctors gave an all-out effort to save him, regardless of their political leanings. Dr. Charles Baxter, one of the doctors treating him, said, “A life is a life is a life.”

A portion of a current version of the Hippocratic oath, which many medical schools use today, says it very well: “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.”

I understand the passions of partisan politics and the concern for a friend who we believe to be maligned, but doctors who provide health care should seek to rise above it and care for all us all. Maybe, Dr. Granberry was joking. Herb Stallknecht, Brookshire