Treat me right

Doctors have always worked for the welfare of their patients, and patients trust doctors to work towards their best interests at all times. The Hippocratic injunction “primum non nocere –first (or above all), do no harm” is the prevailing ethos of the practice of medicine. Doctors are there for the benefit of their patients and they must do them good to the best of their abilities and do nothing which they know will cause them harm. This forms the basis for the patient’s willingness to let doctors get near things she values and even harm them; the heart is trustingly placed in the cardiac surgeon’s hands, the decision on whether a loved one is dead or alive is left to the doctors, or a pill with dangerous side-effects is swallowed without a second thought. In these instances, the doctor is seen as a friend who takes care of you, with good will, fairness and integrity. And because doctors belong to a profession that is regulated and will therefore play by the rules, patients are willing to bare themselves naked, both physically and emotionally.