The Hippocratic Oath is pro-life

The Florida urologist who recently placed an anti-Obamacare placard on his office door was publicly slapped down by Representative Alan Grayson. Dr. Jack Cassell's actions have punctuated the healthcare controversy with the reality of what it will lead to; the very thing the supporters of Obamacare have calculatingly delayed until they are out of electoral danger.

Grayson received a complaint from a constituent, and responded to Dr. Cassell in an interview on CNN, which Representative Grayson posted on his website. In his response, he attempts to portray the rankled doctor as a right-wing nutjob, and among other things, a racist. But the most obnoxious of these accusations is that of violating the Hippocratic Oath for allegedly refusing treatment, presumably as it relates to those who support Obama and his healthcare boondoggle.

Since Mr. Grayson is so disappointed that anyone would allegedly try to break an oath so profoundly sacred to himself, I would like to turn Mr. Grayson's attention to another part of that ancient Hippocratic Oath, one that he apparently overlooked:

"I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan; and similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion."

And what is the good representative's stance on abortion? Notwithstanding his support of a 2008 stem cell research funding bill (which is abortion support by proxy) one needs to look no further than Obamacare, to which he offered his famously rambunctious support.

Those of the population who are against abortion have been greatly wronged by this legislation that sucks the brains and the heart out of the Hippocratic Oath. Obamacare aside, it is clear that the American Left sees abortion and euthanasia not as the Oath would have them - death treatments - but rather as health treatments.

As for euthanasia, while the Obamacare health bill does not explicitly state "kill the elderly," it is based on the same failed blueprint used by other nations. Those nations are now suffering under the very death panels that our representatives vigorously deny as the destiny of their scheme.

To be widely accused of sophistry in regard to our collective expectation that a government that must weigh an individual's health against some cost measure will only accidentally err on the side of the patient's health is the height of ignorance. If a government is benevolent in any measure, it almost always comes down to politics, meaning a photo-op or helping someone in order to give or repay a favor. Politicians are infamously corrupt, and even more infamously inept.

One could perhaps forgive Mr. Grayson - father of five beautiful children who he and his wife allowed to live - for his cavalier support of an ostensibly wrongheaded bill that promises to violate the consciences of all Americans who know abortion and euthanasia to be wrong. However, his familiarity with only the parts of the Hippocratic Oath that serve his political response shows that he can't or won't tell the difference between protecting life and destroying it.

Representative Grayson has some explaining to do in regard to his sponsorship of an organization proudly devoted to the prolonging of life, and his vote for a healthcare bill that will ultimately truncate it. This is especially needed given data that shows advances in life-extending technologies add a hefty amount to total health care costs. But regardless of whether it's abortion or euthanasia, one thing is clear:

The Hippocratic Oath is explicitly Pro-Life.


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