I am not a holder of a seat of the Kassenärztliche Vereinigung (KV). Therefore, I cannot bill services through the statutory health insurance. I also do not currently intend to acquire a seat. The reasons for this are manifold. My main concern is to perceive, understand and treat those people who find their way to me as a whole, to find the root of the problems and to treat the cause of the disease. This is often difficult, time-consuming and, depending on how long symptoms persist, also a difficult undertaking. For this I take all the time you need.
Also, read through a doctor’s prayer. It is attributed to Moses Maimonides, a famous physician (born in Cordoba, died in Cairo in 1204) and is called “Prayer of Maimonides”. Whether he really wrote it himself is disputed. To me it speaks from the heart, because I think, a doctor is there to heal, and not to administer illness. Therefore, the first commandment is to accept the patient with his symptoms and to listen to him. Likewise, one should not blindly accept doctrines, but regularly question them and judge all colleagues in the medical profession according to their success.
The Morning Prayer for a physician, by Moshe Ben Maimonides:
I am now about to apply myself to the duties of my profession.
Support me, Almighty God, in these great labors that they may benefit mankind, for without Thy help not even the least thing will succeed.
Inspire me with love for my art and for Thy creatures.
Do not allow thirst for profit, ambition for renown and admiration, to interfere with my profession, for these are the enemies of truth and of love for mankind and they can lead astray in the great task of attending to the welfare of Thy creatures.
Preserve the strength of my body and of my soul that they ever be ready to cheerfully help and support rich and poor, good and bad, enemy as well as friend.
In the sufferer let me see only the human being.
Illumine my mind that it recognize what presents itself and that it may comprehend what is absent or hidden.
Let it not fail to see what is visible, but do not permit it to arrogate to itself the power to see what cannot be seen, for delicate and indefinite are the bounds of the great art of caring for the lives and health of Thy creatures.
Let me never be absent- minded.
May no strange thoughts divert my attention at the bedside of the sick, or disturb my mind in its silent labors, for great and sacred are the thoughtful deliberations required to preserve the lives and health of Thy creatures.
Grant that my patients have confidence in me and my art and follow my directions and my counsel.
Should those who are wiser than I wish to improve and instruct me, let my soul gratefully follow their guidance; for vast is the extent of our art.
Let me be contented in everything except in the great science of my profession.
Never allow the thought to arise in me that I have attained to sufficient knowledge, but vouchsafe to me the strength, the leisure and the ambition ever to extend my knowledge.
