TWILIGHT OF PRIVATE PRACTICE
Gregory Ciliberti, MD
F
or early humans, medical care was
provided by the priest or the shaman,
relying on uncertain divinity or simple
superstition. The ancient Greeks invented
empirical medicine – one can still see the
tools of these early physicians at the temple
of Asclepius in Epidaurus, where metal catheters and primitive forceps remain on display
till this day. The Greeks also established the
profession of medicine with its tenets of dedication to learning,
respect for one’s teachers, commitment to patient benefit and
privacy, and abstention from mischief and corruption. Most historians consider Hippocrates the “Father of Medicine.” The Corpus
Hippocraticum compiled in Alexandria after his death includes not
only his famous Oath, but also a series of aphorisms. The first of
these concludes: “The physician must not only be prepared to do
what is right himself, but also to make the patient, the attendants,
and externals cooperate.” On this basis a 2500 year tradition of the
ethical, autonomous, professional physician began