Earnest learning on the one side, ethical behavior on the other side, may lead to full accomplishment;

however, very few are those who are able to reach this goal. It may be remarked that Rambam does not completely set aside full accomplishment in this context. Many human beings have virtually the possibility of becoming intellectually and ethically perfect, although very few achieve such ideal status. TOWARD PERFECTION IN MEDICINE I would like to try and establish a tentative program of accomplished medical practice, according to Maimonides’ Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical views featured in his medical works. Studying and Memorizing the Most Accurate Medical Works In the Book on Asthma,9 chapter 13, Maimonides quotes an aphorism of Rhazes, in which he stresses how difficult it is to become a skilled physician. To which he adds: The more accomplished one is in that science, the more precise his investigations are, the

more doubts and difficult questions arise in him. He will go into additional Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical investigations and will hesitate in Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical some of his answers. Maimonides also remarks that even if understanding theoretical medicine from the literature may seem easy for someone who is in full possession of his faculties, the application of these notions to a practical case is often problematic, even for a trained and conscientious practitioner.10 As stated above, Maimonides described how hard and tiring his days of work were. Once his practicing was over, he

reviewed and checked the difficult cases he had seen during the day, searching the literature that was at his disposal. He thus controlled Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical his memory and checked himself constantly. This left him only the Sabbath for his theological studies, which were formerly his main field of interest. Discussing Difficult Cases with Colleagues When Maimonides and his family lived in Fes, Morocco, he saw a patient who was “very strong;” however, after having undergone bleeding, the patient weakened and died the next night. Maimonides notes the following11: Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical “A learned physician under whom I studied asked me: ‘Do you know the nature of the mistake this physician made in bleeding that patient?’” His teacher then explained that the patient was a glutton whose stomach (the cardia) had therefore been weakened. He should have known that Galen had forbidden bleeding in such cases, for it may cause fainting.12 From this story we learn two things: one, that also Maimonides studied medicine in Fes; second, that he INCB28060 datasheet discussed practical cases with his teacher—he even quotes in toto the relevant passage from Galen. Both medical experience and remembrance of the adequate literature are thus documented. Further in the same chapter, Maimonides describes another case, treated by four physicians, “all of them trained in this art.” The Sultan was prescribed theriac, but he died soon after ingestion.