Whoever started putting the ancient Greek icon on American public health officers’ uniforms had it confused with another snake-and-staff symbol. The caduceus is the “Born in the U.S.A.” of Greek ...

The Greek god Hermes, who served as herald and messenger to the other gods, carried a winged staff entwined with two snakes. The staff of Aesculapius, the god of healing, had one snake and no wings.

The U.S. Army Medical Corps chose the caduceus as its symbol in 1902. "Since then the politics of health care have grown more twisted and tangled than the two snakes entwined around the staff in a ...