REFLECTIONS
Reflections
TO LIFE!
Teresita Bacani-Oropilla, MD
I
t was a happy family gathering. The
room was festooned with balloons of all
colors and a festive table was set. Central
to these was a closed box with the words,
“Who is it?” Much joy and clapping
occurred when out of the now-opened
box floated a pink balloon! A little girl was
waiting to be born in a few months, to be
loved and raised in the home nest! To this day, progress continues to be made in all branches of
medicine, to preserve life and health, with astonishing results. In
our own lifetimes as physicians, we have witnessed miracles of
survival of babies in the womb and out, aided by researchers and
pioneers who continue to do what they have sworn to do. Likewise,
for mothers both willing and unwilling, measures to protect their
lives and well-being and the separate lives of the persons they
helped create, are being pursued. The aim is to give all a chance to
prosper on their own.
Anymore, many modern baby albums do not feature a robust
crying newborn with umbilical cord attached, nor a nicely
swaddled baby, as its opening picture. In its stead is a celluloid
shadowy ultrasound depiction of a large head, connected to a
curved spiny body with small limbs attached. Not too enticing, to
be sure, but this picture may have already been passed around with
pride, and the weird person depicted already will have a name. We
human beings all started the same way, you and me, our children,
cute grandchildren and our ancestors. By the conscious action
of our parents, whether by natural or artificial means, we came
to be. Tales and rumors that pretty pregnant mothers acquired
their babies accidentally while prancing in swimming pools have
turned out to be fake news. At the other end of the spectrum, ways and means to preserve
function and ease one’s transition from this mortal life to the
next, continue to be made. We are even concerned with the lower
species in the ladder of life and aim to enhance their existence.
Instead of drowning, asphyxiating or disposing of an extra litter
of puppies or kittens that are of no use to us, we go through the
inconvenience of finding placements for them.
Of great importance is to note that through the ages, physicians
have taken oaths in one form or another to preserve life and health,
and to do no harm to their patients in all stages of life. Hippocrates,
460-377 BC, purported founder of Western medicine, included
the following in his oath: “I will give no deadly medicine to anyone
if asked, nor suggest any such counsel, and in like manner, I will
not give to a woman a pessary to produce abortion.” *
Similarly, then, do our human babies, flesh of our flesh, blood
of our blood deserve less?
It is written that King Solomon the Wise, of biblical fame,
opted not to split a baby in half between two contending mothers.
We homo sapiens, like Solomon, possess wisdom as our unique
human heritage. May we have the courage and the will to continue
to opt for life in our decisions. Furthermore, in the process may we
celebrate it with joy and enthusiasm, with colored balloons galore,
if need be.
* The Hippocratic Oath (full text) Source “Harvard Classics
Vol. 38” Copyright 1910 by P.F. Collier & Son
Dr. Bacani-Oropilla is a retired psychiatrist.
APRIL 2019
9