Trusting in your doctor’s ability to correctly and accurately diagnose and then to safely prescribe and/or administer quality medical care is not something that you should take for granted. These are only men and women (flesh and blood) that you turn to when your health is at its worst. You want them to be there for you when you really need them, but you must always remember that they are only human and they clearly are not infallible. While the majority of medical and osteopathic doctors may care about the health and well-being of their patients (or they did so before being jaded by the healthcare system). BUT, you still need to know that even the very best of them can and do make many mistakes. And those medical mistakes can have deadly consequences. Many doctors who are currently practicing (not curing) have all become increasingly dependent on the “skills and technical expertise” of their large and expensive support staffs. Nurses, laboratory and radiological technicians, as well as billing and insurance people are now commonly found even in small town family doctor’s offices. There is a good chance you will spend more time with some of these “lesser” people than with your actual doctor. Not only does this lead to increased red-tape and larger medical bills, it also increases the great potential for many more human errors and thus many more health problems and even more unnecessary side-effects and even many more unnecessary deaths.
“Primum non nocere” is the Latin phrase that means "first, do no harm." The phrase is sometimes recorded as “primum nil nocere”. Non-maleficence, which is derived from the maxim, is one of the principal precepts of bioethics that all healthcare students are now supposedly taught in medical school and is a fundamental principle throughout the medical world. Another way to state it is that, "given an existing problem, it may be better not to do something, or even to do nothing, than to risk causing greater harm than good." It supposedly reminds your health care provider that they must consider all of the possible harm that any medical intervention might do. It is supposedly invoked when debating the use of any intervention that carries an obvious risk of harm but a less certain chance of benefit. Non-maleficence is often contrasted with its corollary, beneficence. BUT, DID “THEY ALL” LISTEN?
First Do No Harm is a 1997 American television film, directed by Jim Abrahams, about a boy whose severe epilepsy, unresponsive to medications with terrible side effects, is simply and eventually controlled by the ketogenic diet. Aspects of the story mirror Abrahams' own experience with his son Charlie. The film tells a story in the life of a Midwestern family, the Reimullers. Lori (played by Meryl Streep) is the mother of three children and the wife of Dave (Fred Ward), who is a truck driver. The family is presented as happy, normal and comfortable financially: they have just bought a horse and are planning a holiday to Hawaii. Then the youngest son, Robbie (Seth Adkins), has a sudden unexplained fall at school. A short while later, he has another unprovoked fall while playing with his brother, and is seen having a convulsive seizure. Robbie is taken to the hospital where a number of medical procedures are performed: a CT scan, a lumbar puncture, an electroencephalogram (EEG) and blood tests. No cause is found but the two falls are regarded as epileptic seizures and the child then “diagnosed” with epilepsy.
Robbie is started on phenobarbital, an old anticonvulsant drug with well-known side serious effects including cognitive impairment and behavior problems. The latter cause the child to run berserk through their home, leading to injuries. Lori urgently phones the physician to request a change of “medication”. It is changed to phenytoin (Dilantin®) but the dose of phenobarbital must be tapered slowly, causing frustration. Later, the prescription drug carbamazepine (Tegretol®) is added...
“Primum non nocere” is the Latin phrase that means "first, do no harm." The phrase is sometimes recorded as “primum nil nocere”. Non-maleficence, which is derived from the maxim, is one of the principal precepts of bioethics that all healthcare students are now supposedly taught in medical school and is a fundamental principle throughout the medical world. Another way to state it is that, "given an existing problem, it may be better not to do something, or even to do nothing, than to risk causing greater harm than good." It supposedly reminds your health care provider that they must consider all of the possible harm that any medical intervention might do. It is supposedly invoked when debating the use of any intervention that carries an obvious risk of harm but a less certain chance of benefit. Non-maleficence is often contrasted with its corollary, beneficence. BUT, DID “THEY ALL” LISTEN?
First Do No Harm is a 1997 American television film, directed by Jim Abrahams, about a boy whose severe epilepsy, unresponsive to medications with terrible side effects, is simply and eventually controlled by the ketogenic diet. Aspects of the story mirror Abrahams' own experience with his son Charlie. The film tells a story in the life of a Midwestern family, the Reimullers. Lori (played by Meryl Streep) is the mother of three children and the wife of Dave (Fred Ward), who is a truck driver. The family is presented as happy, normal and comfortable financially: they have just bought a horse and are planning a holiday to Hawaii. Then the youngest son, Robbie (Seth Adkins), has a sudden unexplained fall at school. A short while later, he has another unprovoked fall while playing with his brother, and is seen having a convulsive seizure. Robbie is taken to the hospital where a number of medical procedures are performed: a CT scan, a lumbar puncture, an electroencephalogram (EEG) and blood tests. No cause is found but the two falls are regarded as epileptic seizures and the child then “diagnosed” with epilepsy.
Robbie is started on phenobarbital, an old anticonvulsant drug with well-known side serious effects including cognitive impairment and behavior problems. The latter cause the child to run berserk through their home, leading to injuries. Lori urgently phones the physician to request a change of “medication”. It is changed to phenytoin (Dilantin®) but the dose of phenobarbital must be tapered slowly, causing frustration. Later, the prescription drug carbamazepine (Tegretol®) is added...
