Is The Hippocratic Oath Still Valid?
Those in the medical profession will know about the Hippocratic Oath, and it is a hotly-debated topic these days.
One has to come back the area of ethics, and whether it is alright to deny a patient any treatment, on the sole grounds of his/her inability to foot the bill. While I can understand that a private hospital (and therefore, a for-profit enterprise) may claim the rights to, but I really have my reservations when even the public hospitals start doing such.
I recently read about a man who was denied a scan for his stage 4 cancer, due to his inability to pay the deposit for it. Thankfully, a kind Samaritan stepped in. However, should medical treatment be only limited to those who can pay? I am not talking about super high-end experimental drugs or surgery requiring only a select few in the world, but basic treatments that are available in most hospitals in said country.
How much of the unspoken contract between citizen and government is about the state taking care of its people? Or are the people only tools for the state to prosper, and that the state does not have the responsibility to care for the citizen? If the latter is true, then how does the state expect a citizen to have any form of loyalty to the state?