Doctors' Oath

[Tippyboat]

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Is this the version of the oath most medical schools use?

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/doctors/oath_modern.html

Or is the Hippocratic Oath used more widely still?

If possible, can anyone tell me which oath is used by some specific schools? Any MD schools.

 

[DrYoda]

"I will do my job and pay my taxes".

 

[enjoydrywax]

From what I know most schools don't take the oath seriously anymore and I think many of them don't even require you to "take oath" once you graduate.

I think it's largely a revered relic from medicines past that really doesn't hold much weight in modern day physicianship.

 

[AZFutureDoc]

I believe some schools actually have students write their own as part of their white coat ceremony thing.

The Hippocratic oath (not the "doctors oath") actually condemns abortion and some other modern practices that are slipping my mind. So word for word, its not taken, but is THE document that gave birth to our entire profession, so it is revered.

 

[Handyman73]

Many schools actually have you take an oath as part of a white coat ceremony long before you graduate.

And maybe it really is a shame that it doesn't "hold much weight" anymore...

 

[mmmcdowe]

I believe some schools actually have students write their own as part of their white coat ceremony thing.

The Hippocratic oath (not the "doctors oath") actually condemns abortion and some other modern practices that are slipping my mind. So word for word, its not taken, but is THE document that gave birth to our entire profession, so it is revered.

Gall stone removal 🙂.

 

[Bacchus]

Thats the historic oath, not Louis Lasagna's modern oath.

 

[Law2Doc]

Is this the version of the oath most medical schools use?

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/doctors/oath_modern.html

Or is the Hippocratic Oath used more widely still?

If possible, can anyone tell me which oath is used by some specific schools? Any MD schools.

I'd say the original Hippocratic Oath is more widely used, but it's not like anyplace makes you individually sign or swear to it -- usually from what I've heard, the class as a group just stands up and reads it as part of a white coat ceremony or graduation. If you want to stay silent, that's cool -- it's not exactly an oath of public office or even the profession. It's an oath of how one ancient greek guy thought physicians as a profession ought to conduct themselves. There's some good stuff in there, and some outdated stuff. But all established professions have some sort of oath associated with it (law does, the judiciary does, even being president does) so I wouldn't look at it as a bad thing; it means that you are entering a professoin that stands for something more than the typical 9 to 5 job. Which I think most people going into medicine want.

 

[mmmcdowe]

Actually all surgery.

Yes, but that's referring to another part of the oath. I'm talking about the part that says you can't cut stone, it's referring specfiically to gall stones.

Basically all of the prohibitions of the Hippocratic Oath were because it was risky or deemed to be a surgeons job, which was considered a trade not an art at the time.

 

[ESzczesniak]

Adding to the mix, many schools use the Declaration of Geneva...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_Geneva

By comparison, very simple and without the flashy language. But it serves the purpose.

 

[LizzyM]

Dr. Edmund Pellegrino from Georgetown has been writing and speaking on this subject for many years. I heard him speak on the topic earlier this year. There are at least a half dozen different oaths in use at this time.

 

[teddybear]

I'd say the original Hippocratic Oath is more widely used, but it's not like anyplace makes you individually sign or swear to it -- usually from what I've heard, the class as a group just stands up and reads it as part of a white coat ceremony or graduation. If you want to stay silent, that's cool -- it's not exactly an oath of public office or even the profession. It's an oath of how one ancient greek guy thought physicians as a profession ought to conduct themselves. There's some good stuff in there, and some outdated stuff. But all established professions have some sort of oath associated with it (law does, the judiciary does, even being president does) so I wouldn't look at it as a bad thing; it means that you are entering a professoin that stands for something more than the typical 9 to 5 job. Which I think most people going into medicine want.

I think it should be required.

 

[URHere]

At our school's white coat ceremony, we read the Declaration of Geneva - short, sweet, simple.

 

[Depakote]

I vaguely recall something about swearing to Apollo...

 

[bodonid]

we were given both versions to reference, then we wrote our own.

 

[Dr Roboto]

I vaguely recall something about swearing to Apollo...

And giving our mentors a portion of our salary

 

[AZFutureDoc]

Gall stone removal 🙂.

Touche mmmcdowe! Good ole history of medicine. Kinda sad that I forgot something that interesting!


And Hippocrates performed surgery himself! And pulled off some pretty audacious operations given what he knew and had to work with ~300 BC