The doctorate profession is of great nobility and has a stature that is equal to an angel. It is such an aspiring profession that parents wish their children to become doctors as they grow up. Doctors work day and night to acquire knowledge of every disease and the best treatments available and work inexhaustibly to treat humankind with great passion. After years and years of tireless hard work, they bind themselves to the Hippocratic Oath and swear by it to save every human life possible and do no harm to them by any means (Rachel). They act selflessly and efficiently to save human lives. Heroes of medicine like Edward Jenner, who conceived the first-ever vaccine to treat an infection in humans, have been a torch-bearer for modern medicine (Taylor, Robert B.). It is these heroic role models that have inspired many students to choose medicine as their career path. It was found in one of the surveys in a medical college in London that about 48% of the population wants to become a surgeon in future (Fysh et al.). This clearly shows how passionate students are in regard to this career and how sacred this profession is considered.
All these praises are mainly because doctors “save human lives”. However, as a matter of fact is that every coin has two sides. There have been numerous events documented to date that have not only shown the devilish nature of doctors but also led us to question our blind trust in them. The infamous ‘Nazi experiments’ is the topic of utmost debate even today. (Marks) in his book “Doctors from hell: The horrific account of Nazi experiments on humans” illustrates how the doctors at that time were heartless enough to perform uninformed and callous experiments on the prisoners of World War II. It was also found that a General Practioner (GP) in Manchester was condemned for murdering 15 of his patients without getting suspicious by the authorities (O’ Neill, B.). Moreover, modern medicine experimentations have started to reach heights of unethicality. Recently, a huge pharmacological company hid the harmful side effects of a new medicine just so it could get affiliation from the FDA. All these incidents have led us to one question. In modern times, how far have we come as human beings in the context of protecting each other and trusting each other? Doctors have always been a sign of a saviour, but in this modern day and age, where nothing could be hidden from the common people, the untold truth of doctors has come ashore.
The doctor-patient relationship is focally based on trust. Suppose doctors and professionals related to the medical field would start becoming involved in heinous crimes, then how would common people feel comfortable in trusting their lives with them. It is a doctor’s duty to abide by the Hippocratic Oath he takes before starting his career, and for the sake of humanity, he should respect the value of human life. Although there are countless medical heroes who have given their lives and taken major steps during different pandemics and natural calamities just for their patient’s benefit of interest, there are doctors at the same time who have barbarically taken advantage of their patient’s beliefs in them. In this modern era, where information is just a click away from us, people have started to rely on online medical websites for their diagnoses and treatments. Self-diagnosis and self-treatments with the help of over-the-counter medications are taking a toll among general people. This shows that doctors need to regain their trust and belief from their patients and rebuild the healthy doctor-patient relationship that always has been there.