Plenary Address from CBHD's 15th Annual Conference: Healthcare and the Common Good.

This plenary address seeks to understand the challenges facing healthcare due to the loss of commitment to the Hippocratic ideals that guided physicians for over 2000 years. This is done through exploring the historical framework of medicine as compared to today as well as evaluating the influence that change has on the satisfaction by those receiving and providing care.  Contracts and covenants are then contrasted as to how they impact availability and quality of care.  Finally, by looking at the concept and practice of charity and care for the poor, this address will anticipate how these trends might affect the future of healthcare.