Are government patient satisfaction surveys undermining the Hippocratic Oath?

By Randy Hultgren

Published August 4, 2014 8:29pm ET

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Are government patient satisfaction surveys undermining the Hippocratic Oath? — Only when we get the government out of the way of our doctors and restore to them the full authority to "Do No Harm," will we be able to unwind the damage being done to patients, especially those being treated with opioid painkillers.Ã (iStock Image) | BRIAN GOODMAN

“Just give me antibiotics; that’s what worked last year.” So demanded a character of Dr. Mark Greene on the long-running show “ER” while suffering from the seasonal flu.

Greene refused, saying that antibiotics wouldn’t help his viral infection and furthermore that prescribing them would contribute to the problem of superbugs that are resistant to normal antibiotics. The patient was upset, but Greene held his ground.

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Affordable Care Act Congress Drugs Entitlements Medicare and Medicaid War on Drugs