Donald Trump, hereafter to be referred to by a medical acronym DT ( = delirium tremens, a severe alcohol-withdrawal syndrome with occasional lethality) has already had his first scandals--even before he was in office. No, not crude language but his choices for a number of cabinet positions. The most obviously terrible is Betsy DeVos for Education Secretary. The funder of "Conversion Therapy" groups. Of course, that whole idea first presupposes a moral choice on the part of society she wishes to "convert" as possessing traits which she obviously considers immoral. Forget biology, forget neuroanatomy--if she doesn't like LGBT, then it is "bad". Might as well try converting brown-eyed people to blue-eyed.

But the point of this essay is not the manifest unfitness and stupidity of Betsy DeVos to lead the department of political education. Betsy has obviously neither training nor interest in medicine. She did not swear an oath to Hippocrates as I and hundreds of thousands of physicians have when receiving M.D. and perhaps D.O. degrees (although some do swear to the oath of Maimonides, a pledge of similar gravity). The Hippocratic Oath is supposed to be a Moral Guideline in the practice of Medicine.

Hippocratic Oath

I swear by Apollo The Healer, by Asclepius, by Hygieia, by Panacea, and by all the Gods and Goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will carry out, according to my ability and judgment, this oath and this indenture.
To hold my teacher in this art equal to my own parents; to make him partner in my livelihood; when he is in need of money to share mine with him; to consider his family as my own brothers, and to teach them this art, if they want to learn it, without fee or indenture; to impart precept, oral instruction, and all other instruction to my own sons, the sons of my teacher, and to indentured pupils who have taken the physician’s oath, but to nobody else.
I will use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgment, but never with a view to injury and wrong-doing. Neither will I administer a poison to anybody when asked to do so, nor will I suggest such a course. Similarly I will not give to a woman a pessary to cause abortion. But I will keep pure and holy both my life and my art. I will not use the knife, not even, verily, on sufferers from stone, but I will give place to such as are craftsmen therein.
Into whatsoever houses I enter, I will enter to help the sick, and I will abstain from all intentional wrong-doing and harm, especially from abusing the bodies of man or woman, bond or free. And whatsoever I shall see or hear in the course of my profession, as well as outside my profession in my intercourse with men, if it be what should not be published abroad, I will never divulge, holding such things to be holy secrets.
Now if I carry out this oath, and break it not, may I gain for ever reputation among all men for my life and for my art; but if I transgress it and forswear myself, may the opposite befall me.[

Bolding mine.

There is a newer version of this Oath:

Modern version

I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:...
I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.
I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures which are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.
I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.
I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.
I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. Above all, I must not play at God.
I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.
I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.
I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.
If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.

Written in 1964 by Louis Lasagna, Academic Dean of the School of Medicine at Tufts University, and used in many medical schools today.

Now from Hippocrates to hypocrisy: DT's nominee for Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, a department which oversees MMS (Office of Medicare and Medicaid Services), is a former physician, Rep. Tom Price

Included in the Wikipedia citation is a list of 55 bills he co-sponsored, not all of which are bad. In fact some are quite good. For instance he was in favor of obtaining lower priced drugs from Canada.

But being good "part of the time" is just not adequate. Especially for a physician who is also an elected official. Now Dr. Rep. Price has shown his true, greedy nature by unethical and possibly illegal stock purchases. Roll Call has delineated some of these unethical practices.

At least three of the companies aided by Rep. Tom Price and his staff contributed to his campaign funds. - See more at: http://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/tom-price-hhs-nominee-donors#sthas...

And more:

Price, a former surgeon, or his staff also pressured the Food and Drug Administration and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to heed requests and complaints he received from donors and constituents. The documents were released in batches over the past couple of days in response to a Freedom of Information Act filed last year. - See more at: http://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/tom-price-hhs-nominee-donors#sthas...

And most perverse of all, although the list of his lack of ethics goes on more:

Price also faces questions about his trades in health industry stocks despite his seat on the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, which CQ Roll Call reported first on Dec. 21. The Georgia Republican disputed this week that he got insider information about the Australian biotech Innate Immunotherapeutics from Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., who serves on the company's board. Price conceded to receiving a break on the cost of buying his shares. - See more at: http://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/tom-price-hhs-nominee-donors#sthas...

Of course, Tom "I have my" Price has defended his position according to Huffington Post:

Price has defended his practice of trading health care stocks while introducing legislation to benefit the companies he purchased shares in by stating that his trades were directed by his Morgan Stanley broker and not him. This defense neglected to mention that Price made other trades from another account that were personally directed by him….

If Price received non-public information from Collins about the company before buying shares and participating in the limited private placement provided by Innate Immunotherapeutics, he could be found in violation of the 2012 STOCK Act, which bans insider trading in Congress.

And now a message from the Surgeon General of the United States Senate:

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KQ2NXtrWoo]