The hippocratic myth articulates in an honest and engaging manner the practical realities confronting doctors which force them to veer from the ideal of the hippocratic oath one heretofore unspoken truth is that doctors are silently rationing care and bloche brings this to light with case studies of real people facing the limits of medicine and the health care financing environment in an interesting twist he points out that many of us are unwittingly consenting to the rationing of our . In the hippocratic myth why doctors are under pressure to ration care practice politics and compromise their promise to heal bloche argues that medicines paramount ethical doctrine formulated some 2500 years ago to address a limited set of concerns is not up to coping with these and other much more complex questions at least as the doctrine is currently understood the widespread belief to the contrary is an anachronism that results primarily in obscuring the real issues at stake it . When doctors have to act as both a caregiver and a servant to politics insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies there is a risk of compromising the hippocratic oath my dan has practiced medicine for over 35 years and he often says who would an amazing and eye opening perspective on the way medicine is practiced in this country. The hippocratic myth why doctors are under pressure to ration care practice politics and compromise their promise to heal authors frank pasquale university of maryland francis king carey school of law follow. The hippocratic myth why doctors are under pressure to ration care practice politics and compromise their promise to heal item preview