A Guide to the Hippocratic Oath
Facts and Information About Hippocrates
His writings of the Corpus Hippocraticum provide a wealth of information on biomedical methodology and offer one of the first reflective codes of professional ethics. It is possible that his writings were actually drawn up by a number of different people, but history has credited it all to Hippocrates himself.
Origins of the Hippocratic Oath
In the time of Hippocrates (and the other associated writers) there were many who wanted to pass themselves off as physicians. These individuals had not gone through an apprenticeship and thus had no specialised (professional) knowledge. Because of this, these men went about conning their customers.
This created a problem for those who entered the study of medicine the traditional way. These more careful practitioners had to distinguish themselves from the charlatans. The way most professions try to deal with this sort of problem and the legitimate problems that arise during practice is to create codes of conduct and structures of accreditation. The most famous of these in the biomedical tradition is: The Oath of Hippocrates.
A Transcript of the Hippocratic Oath:
- To hold my teacher in this art on a par with my parents. To make my teacher a partner in my livelihood To look after my teacher and financially share with her/him when s/he is in need. To consider him/her as a brother/sister along with his/her family. To teach his/her family the art of medicine, if they want to learn it, without tuition or any other conditions of service.
- I will help the sick according to my skill and judgment, but never with an intent to do harm or injury to another.
- I will never administer poison to anyone-even when asked to do so. Nor will I ever suggest a way that others (even the patient) could do so. Similarly, I will never induce an abortion. Instead, I will keep holy my life and art.
- I will not engage in surgery--not even upon suffers from stone, but will withdraw in favour of others who do this work.
- Whoever I visit, rich or poor, I will concern myself with the well being of the sick. I will commit no intentional misdeeds, nor any other harmful action such as engaging in sexual relations with my patients (regardless of their status).
- Whatever I hear or see in the course of my professional duties (or even outside the course of treatment) regarding my patients is strictly confidential and I will not allow it to be spread about. But instead, will hold these as holy secrets.
- Now if I carry out this oath and not break its injunctions, may I enjoy a good life and may my reputation be pure and honoured for all generations. But if I fail and break this oath, then may the opposite befall me.
Within this oath are both a moral code for the profession of medicine and the outlines of a system of accreditation for new physicians via an apprenticeship. These two functions went a long way to establishing medicine as a profession that ordinary people could trust.
Source:
Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings Penguin Classics; 1983 ISBN-10: 0140444513
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