LIKELY with the Greek ideal mens sana in corpore sano in mind, St. Augustine must have been moved to aver: “The mind is the image of God, in that it is capable of Him and can be partaker of Him.” Reality fled far away from the ideal, current events scream of a craven mind: one that loots taxpayers over P10 billion in “pork barrel” monies with august lawmakers as accomplices may have defiled more than a godly image. Such a case runs roughshod over the principles of medical ethics that psychiatrists are urged, coaxed to live by. Says psychiatrist Dr. Pureza Trinidad-Oñate in her address to peers at a plenary session of the Philippine Psychiatric Association’s midyear convention: “Principles of medical ethics are not laws, but standards of conduct which define the essentials of honorable behavior for the psychiatrist.” Indeed, “ethical concerns about the psychiatrist’s role and functions have dogged the profession for at least three centurie...
Prizewinning Filipino writer's musings, written in English and Tagalog-based Filipino.