Tales from the Steppes

2005-09-13

9:48 a.m.
Tuesday, September 13

And go-cart Mozart was checkin' out the weather chart to see if it was safe to go outside
And little Early-Pearly came in by her curly-wurly and asked me if I needed a ride
- Bruce Springsteen

It is really too bad that I am not in need of an oncologist because I know that if I did, this man would be the one I would pick. What standards! What ethics! What a CONSCIENCE! I am really glad he isn't losing sleep on this one, I mean, because I would HATE for his sleep to be interupted.

From today's Washington Post, about the hospital where they found the 45 bodies yesterday:
"Things looked like they were going downhill quickly," said Scot Sonnier, an oncologist there. He left before the evacuation, thinking other doctors were handling it, he said.
- snip -
Sonnier said he assumed the emergency team of physicians left in the hospital would carry out the evacuation. But in an interview outside the eight-story brick facility, he said, "I will always have well, not regrets, but concerns over whether I did the right thing."

Perhaps I am being a bit harsh but I am pretty sure the Hippocratic Oath was not written with this behavior in mind. I certainly do not expect that people are saints or that doctors are somehow better people than the rest of us. But when you have benefited by being a professional (ie. doctor, lawyer, dentist, architect, I'm sure there are a few others), you have to pay the price as well. And that means not leaving patients, even when it is inconvenient or dangerous.

I am such a bitch about professional ethics. But it really does piss me off. Really really really.