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 When the Hippocratic Oath meets the hypocrisy of the unvaccinated

BY DR. CAROL HUTNER WINOGRAD AND PAUL RUPERT, OPINION CONTRIBUTORS — 02/23/22

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL

 https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/595521-when-the-hippocratic-oath-meets-the-hypocrisy-of-the-unvaccinated

The historic COVID-19 pandemic has brought us to a critical point. Pillars of our advanced society — hospitals, schools, businesses — have been severely stressed or on the cusp of failure. As both veterans of medical institutions and patients with serious chronic conditions, we are keenly aware of the fragility of our beleaguered emergency room, intensive care and other hospital staff. We fear for their future.

Yet, each day our health care system faces the relentless demands of a daily tide of the nearly dead — largely unvaccinated, but needing and demanding sophisticated care nonetheless. Exhausted doctors and nurses try heroically to treat all comers. A general, vague understanding of the Hippocratic Oath seems to demand that everyone requires care regardless of the why of their conditions. Although the so-called oath is neither a true oath nor a binding contract signed by doctors and hospital administrators, the very notion of denial of care seems to betray the essence of the caring profession.

Nonetheless, a growing number of people have begun to suggest that vaccination should be a condition of treatment, with the simple phrase, “No vaccination, no hospitalization.” This emerging sentiment was challenged in a recent Atlantic article, “It’s a Terrible Idea to Deny Medical Care to Unvaccinated People.”

A physician and ethicist at the University of Colorado, Matt Wynia, summarized this view, “It is completely contrary to the tenets of medical ethics, which have stood pretty firm since the Second World War.”

“We don’t use the medical-care system as a way of meting out justice. We don’t use it to punish people for their social choices,” he added.

This view seems to miss the essential point of our current quandary. In our uniquely and deeply individualistic society, discussions of social dilemmas are quickly reduced to questions of personal liberty, choice and compulsion. Threats to essential institutions take a back seat to the widely reported and always moving stories of individuals. 

Given the resultant deep cleavage in worldviews, two camps emerge. Those who value science, American medicine and our health care systems are those who get vaccinated, wear masks and try to follow the evolving rules. We make every effort to stay out of the hospital unless all else fails.

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