Medicine as a Moral Art: The Hippocratic Philosophy of Herbert Ratner, M.D.
It may smack of quackery to claim that the medical profession can protect itself against attacks from within and without simply by returning to Hippocrates, Father of Western medicine, yet that is the thesis of this · little study. I propose to support it by examining the philosophy and life's work of Herbert Ratner, a physician who until his death at 90, on December 6, 1997, devoted well over half a century to practicing and promoting Hippocratic medicine. The claim that Hippocrates can defend the profession from all attacks will seem all the more extreme when one considers their gravity. They fall under three broad and somewhat overlapping headings. Probably the most pressing concern among physicians today is subservience to big business, with threats from government not far behind. Many see not just their income in jeopardy-that may be the least of their concerns-but above all their freedom to follow their professional judgment. If the doctor is not at liberty to prescribe the