Dr. Federico Castro-MoureAbusive drunk physician tries to operateDr. Federico Castro-Moure, chief neurosurgeon at Highland Hospital in Oakland, California, is included here for having said, “Do you know that I am a (expletive) doctor, and I’m going to do what I want” according the The Oakland Tribune. Doctors too routinely are allowed to do what they want without anyone stopping them or reporting them or doing anything but defending them. That they are used to having that much power and protection surfaces from time to time in statements like that and the behavior of others on this list of examples. No group of human beings can be trusted blindly with that much power. It leads even to the commissions of crimes against helpless patients. Crimes are the tip of the iceberg. But it is an revealing tip that we are kept from seeing. In this case, he wasn't committing a crime. Driving while drunk is a crime, but operating while drunk is not. They didn't call the police because he was drunk. They didn't call the police to protect a patient. They called the police to protect a nurse. When it appeared that the doctor might hurt a nurse, they called the police. Dr. Castro-Moure was arrested after struggling with sheriff’s deputies in March of 2006. If they had allowed him to operate, no one would have heard about it, no matter what the outcome for the patient. Has the doctor ever operated while under the influence before? How would anyone know? Who would tell? We need for patients, if no one else, to be allowed to tell. We need a mechanism set up that encourages their telling, and that encourages hospital staff and other to report as well. As a start, there at least should be a phone number for them to call rather than having to wait for things to reach a level that requires the intervention of the police. |
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