hippocratic oath, will you take it or not??

[DendriticCell]

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does your school still include hipporcratic oath in the white coat ceremony or graduation? will you take the oath or not?(either the old one or modern one) .... and why?

 

[Carbon]

UNSOM incorporates a version of the oath that was written by a former student several years ago into the white coat ceremony. It's very good, and I took it with no qualms.

🙂

Edit: I really liked ours, so thought I'd post it... it incorporates a sort of honor pledge, which is cool.

I will maintain the highest standards of responsibility, integrity, and professionalism during my medical education and throughout my professional career.
I will adhere to these high standards of professional conduct in all aspects of my life.
I will neither receive nor give unauthorized assistance on examinations or assignments and I will approch my education with honesty and integrity.
I will respect and assist my classmates and colleagues at all times.
I will achnowledge my limitations, strive to learn from my mistakes and work to improve my skills to the benefit of my patients.
I will commit myself to a lifetime of learning and teaching both the art and science of medicine.
I will attend to all my patients with competence and compassion.
I will maintain patient confidentiality and be tactful in my words and actions.
I will honor the diversity of patients' experiences, cultures and beliefs and strive to assist them in making choices that reflect their personal values.
I will strive to earn and maintain my patients' trust and respect.
I will work to improve the standard of health in my community, to increase access to care for the underserved and to educate patients.
I will recognize the priviliges afforded to me as a physician and a physician-in-training and promise not to abuse them.
I will not forget the importance of my own health and well-being.
I will not use my knowledge to harm others.
I made these promises solemnly, freely and upon my honor.

 

[LukeWhite]

While we have our own osteopathic oath, I'll be taking neither that nor the hipp. oath when the time comes. Most modernizations of the oath have removed any reference to abortion; for those of us who consider abortion to be <i>the</i> primary health problem of the generation, it's not an acceptable exclusion. Repeating an oath with the critical promise to avoid performing an abortion removed would be a form of looking the other way.

Personally, I think the oath lost most of its meaning a long time ago. The most successful modern medical oaths are the ones that are pretty hard to break and therefore don't carry much burden in the swearing.

 

[southcom]

nice post, when we made our own class oath no one mentioned that abortion had been taken out of the original. glad someone notices

 

[Street Philosopher]

it seems pretty stupid to take abortion out of the oath when you keep stupid things like not allowing euthanasia or swearing to apollo and the rest of the gods in it. plus that whole deal about teaching others for free is stupid too. i mean, what the hell am i spending 30k in tuition for? and what, surgeons aren't doctors? wtf?

the oath is out of date and should be replaced.

 

[souljah1]

We took the oath of Lasagna. Aside from the name, I think it is really good. Here is the oath for those who are interested.



I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:

I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.

I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures which are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.

I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.

I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.

I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.

I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.

I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.

I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.

If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.

 

[Street Philosopher]

That is a pretty good oath Souljah1. At first I thought you were joking because of the name and wondered why anyone would type so much for a joke but then I realized it was real. Good stuff.

 

[DendriticCell]

so, let's say, your med school forces you to take the oath.. which one would you guys prefer to take?? the traditional oath or the revised one??

 

[Blade28]

We had to take a slightly modified version during our white coat ceremony, which was after orientation (but before classes began in first year).

 

[Allygator89]

We took an oath three weeks into the start of school, right after the Profession of Medicine class we took.

And no, we didn't take an traditional oath. We, as a class, constructed our own.

When we graduate, we will take a revised version of the Hippocratic oath.

 

[Wednesday]

We actually spent a lot of time talking about the oath, it's history, the changes, etc. Then we had to write one of our own. During the white coat ceremony we repeated one of the more watered down versions.

I don't think anyone will FORCE you to take any oath, so there's probably no reason to worry about that. Personally I feel that just thinking about what it means that medicine even has an oath and deciding what that oath is for yourself (including abortion or excluding it for example) is the meaning of the exercise. Anyone can repeat some words at a ceremony, but it's the meaning that the words take in your life that's important. I guess what I'm saying is that it's not important to say or not to say the oath, but to decide on a set of your own personal values and dedicate your life to supporting them as you begin to take care of patients.

 

[AJM]

We took an oath that was written around 15 years ago by medical students at our school. It is loosely based on the Declaration of Geneva. I like ours, and didn't have a problem taking this oath:



On my admission to the Practice of Medicine

I pledge to devote my life to the service of humanity.

The care of my patients will be my first consideration;

I will practice my profession with reverence and dignity and to the best of my ability and judgement;

I will treat any who need my ministration, without regard to religion, nationality, race, politics, sexual orientation, or social standing;

I will approach each patient with charity, attention, and commitment;

I will hold all life dear, and let knowledge, wisdom, courage, and compassion guide my therapy;

I will respect the confidences with which I will be entrusted;

I will give gratitude and respect to those from whom I have learned my Science and Art;

I will uphold the integrity of the medical profession;

I will cultivate peace in both personal conduct and political expression;

I will not use my knowledge contrary to the spirit of this Oath.

I make these promises in witness of those who have stood here before me, and those who will come after.

Solemnly, freely, and upon my honor.


This oath is taken on entering medical school, and on graduation.

 

[AJM]

There is actually an Oath Registry on the AMA web site where all the med schools register what Oaths they currently use. It's kind of interesting to see what other schools use:

http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/5573.html

 

[uclacrewdude]

Who wouldn't take the Oath? I mean, doesn't being a doctor inspire a sense of duty in you?

 

[Neuronix]

I refused. The hippocratic oath was propogated by the Catholic church because it jived with the ideas of the church. Things like swearing to the almighty at the beginning, not performing euthanasia, not doing abortions, etc. To me, this scars the oath. During the fight against abortion (led by the AMA) earlier last century, it was used many a time to uphold good christian values. I would take a different oath, but not one attributed to Hippocrates. I am ardently pro-choice, I am unsure about euthanasia, and I may someday cut out kidney stones.

 

[carrigallen]

err..most of the other named oaths are just modifications of the original Hippocratic oath (Ancient Greek)...so saying you wouldn't take the Hippocratic oath but rather Lasagna is not quite accurate, it's just a modified version. I didn't know people had so much baggage with Hippocratic Oath. It is a straightforward pledge. Maybe it is hip-trendy to flaunt your rejection of the oath, but I believe it does have some importance and meaning in medicine.


I remember in a television interview, a doctor jailed for having sexual relationships with his patients was asked, "So why did you break the Hippocratic Oath?"

His response: "Our medical class chose not to do the oath. We didn't think it was important."

Life can be so ironic.

 

[....]

"err..most of the other named oaths are just modifications of the original Hippocratic oath (Ancient Greek)...so saying you wouldn't take the Hippocratic oath but rather Lasagna is not quite accurate, it's just a modified version. I didn't know people had so much baggage with Hippocratic Oath. It is a straightforward pledge. Maybe it is hip-trendy to flaunt your rejection of the oath, but I believe it does have some importance and meaning in medicine."


The point is that for an oath to have meaning it must be belived in. If you take an oath against things you have every intention of doing and to gods you dont even belive in, why take it?

If i modify Hiipp's oath to remove the BS and preserve what find important, I can take the oath as an oath should be taken.

I'm not religous at all and I still say the Pledge of Aleigance with "under God" in it, but then again the P of A doesnt mean much then when i say it then does it?

 

[Starflyr]

I would love to take the Hippocratic Oath - its one of the VERY few things that still has references to Pagan Gods. As a Pagan, I find this uplifting, since everything else on earth is a reference to YHVH.

Star

 

[OrthoFixation]

Originally posted by hightrump
I'm not religous at all and I still say the Pledge of Aleigance with "under God" in it, the P of A doesnt mean much then when i say it then does it?

If I recall correctly, "under God" has been in the pledge less time than than the original version without it. I believe our friends on the hill added this during the 50's or 60's. It may have been a cold war issue.

 

[Starflyr]

"under God" was added in 1957 as a result of major lobbying efforts by Joe McCarthy, who felt that America was in danger of losing its alleged "Christian Roots"

Star

 

[irlandesa]

this may sound stupid, but after looking at the traditional Hippocratic Oath in a modern context I fail to see exactly how the Oath forbids abortion. "No illegal operation" certainly no longer applies, and the whole thing about performing operations for only curative purposes would forbid many, many things such as removing benign warts or lipomas for cosmetic reasons as well, it is not specific to pregnancy termination. I have to agree that the ban on euthanasia is pretty clear in the oath, and understand why people might have reservations about this since it's not a black/white issue.

oh, to the DO student who thinks abortion is the biggest American health problem, try obesity and heart disease, and I might add, the rates of those 2 problems continue to rise, while abortion rates have been declining steadily for 11+ years now due to efforts on the part of doctors to educate patients about pregnancy prevention and contraception.

 

[LukeWhite]

irland,

The ban on abortion in the original oath is specific as well, and is in fact tied to that on euthanasia: "...I will not give to a woman a pessary to produce abortion."

As for the second part of your comment, I'm sure no one wants to see the thread turn into an abortion debate. I'll briefly respond, however. The abortion rate is currently around 300 abortions per 1000 live births. That represents a 25% fatality rate in an otherwise healthy population. The fatality rate for those aborted is awfully close to 100%. No other disease or constellation of symptoms comes close to affecting so many people so drastically in such an irreversible fashion.