HIPPOCRATE’S TEARS

Hippocrate’s Tears

2018, oil on canvas, 30 x 40″. Private collection.

The painting depicts an unfortunate yet familiar scene in a modern-day hospital room. The suffering patient, who is at the end of his life, is hooked up to several IV bags, a foley catheter and a feeding tube. These interventions supposedly meant to prolong his life, are more likely prolonging his suffering. The dark and gloomy atmosphere makes the viewer realize that this poor man is all alone at the end of his life. On the wall, hangs a picture of Hippocrates, the father of medicine. Tears run down his eyes and drip onto the cold, sterile hospital floor as he watches from afar. He sadly realizes that medicine has changed since his time: focusing on the quantity of life, rather than its quality.