Medical care for non-smokers only

Not surprisingly to those familiar with increasing fanaticism of the nanny state, also in Germany there are first attempts of denying smokers equal access to medical treatment.
Dr. Jochen Mathews, surgeon at the Heidekreis hospital in Soltau (Lower Saxony) called a patient one day before her long scheduled operation on her cruciate ligament to tell her that she has to take a tobacco withdrawal course first. If ‘successful’ she would be entitled to the operation.
Asked by a journalist, the physician replied that he never operates smokers, only in acute cases of emergency.

Others hospitals reacted bewilderedly, some had never heard of such an incident, smokers are generally treated the same way as non-smokers.
The Heidekreis hospital tried to defend itself against the outrage created by its employee. The director claimed that the patient's alleged bronchitis would require a three-week postponement of the operation. Interestingly, the woman was operated a few days later in another hospital.

Apparently, some medical doctors don’t take the Hippocratic Oath but the Hypocritical one.