Then again, in the last two decades, doctors have fallen in social status. The now ubiquitous talk of a “human right to medical care” implies a patient’s right to demand a doctor’s labor. No longer seen as men and women of science, they are now commonly referred to as “health care providers”—a diminution of prestige that makes them out to be little different from nannies and preschool teachers—that is, “child care providers.” With little scientific status to safeguard, their Hippocratic oath becomes less compelling than the patients right in front of them.
