Two weeks ago the U.S. Senate confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the new head of the Dept. of Health and Human Services. Among those voting yes were Senators Roger Marshall (R-KS), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Rand Paul (R-KY) and John Barrasso (R-WY), all physicians.

When becoming a senator, one takes an oath to preserve and protect the Constitution. What that means is now more debatable and often up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

But these four Senators also all took an oath as physicians that has never been debatable. No other profession requires an oath to be taken before the paper diploma is given. It goes back 2,500 years to Greek physician Hippocrates. Although there are variations of the oath there are four basic principles a new physician swears to uphold. First is benevolence. Second is non-maleficence. Third, do what is right, and for at least the last 500 years, doing right in medicine has been based on the scientific method. Lastly is privacy/confidentiality.

I believe RFK Jr’s first cousin, former ambassador Caroline Kennedy, was correct in calling the new DHHS director a predator and saying that her father and uncles would be disgusted with his confirmation. Even more disgusting for me, as a physician myself, is that these senators who call themselves physicians have violated their oath to their patients by voting for someone who has harmed many with his misinformation.

These doctors need to be honest and give up their medical degrees. They’ve broken their sacred oath.

Nick Perencevich

Concord