The Oath of Hippocrates.. you must make this oath...

[ATB Pre Med]

I just researched this topic, and it's pretty interesting. It's one of the first oaths that Physicians must make, and was written around since 400B.C. If you're not familiar with it, you should google it and become familiar.

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[shindotp]

You're not the first one on the board to have heard of the Hippocratic Oath my friend.

 

[kleos atanatos]

Chiron was better

 

[schrizto]

I just read the text of the Hippocratic Oath. It's kind of outdated. I think people say it more now out of tradition rather than having any real meaning to it.

 

[Compass]

"Do no harm" has been something that irks me...

Stopping someone's heart does harm in Open Heart Surgery.
Chemotherapy does harm in Cancer Treatment.

The words need to be updated for a more modern approach. Medical procedures these days certainly do at least temporary harm. Even something as simple as taking an anti-biotic can cause bacterial imbalances. I'm not saying that the oath is wrong, but it's... not quite...

Let's do a bit-by-bit analysis.

I swear by Apollo, the healer, Asclepius, Hygieia, and Panacea, and I take to witness all the gods, all the goddesses, to keep according to my ability and my judgment, the following Oath and agreement:

A lot of these Gods are Greek. Certainly, medicine did not originate in Greece. I have no issue, but doctors in Asia may have very well never learned who these people are...

To consider dear to me, as my parents, him who taught me this art; to live in common with him and, if necessary, to share my goods with him; To look upon his children as my own brothers, to teach them this art.

Teach them, that is, how to apply to medical school v.v

I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone.

This is the one that irks me, as I've mentioned. The judgment gives leeway, but never do harm is pretty rigid.

I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan; and similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion.

Oh MY GOD. I'm steering clear of discussion of this one.

But I will preserve the purity of my life and my arts.

Nothing to discourse here.

I will not cut for stone, even for patients in whom the disease is manifest; I will leave this operation to be performed by practitioners, specialists in this art.

Kidney stones should only be removed by kidney stone specialists. Yes, I'm sure I'll leave neurosurgery for the neurosurgeon as well.

In every house where I come I will enter only for the good of my patients, keeping myself far from all intentional ill-doing and all seduction and especially from the pleasures of love with women or with men, be they free or slaves.

Oh, House, how you have shown me the ways.

All that may come to my knowledge in the exercise of my profession or in daily commerce with men, which ought not to be spread abroad, I will keep secret and will never reveal.

And so, the HIPAAcratic Oath was born.

]If I keep this oath faithfully, may I enjoy my life and practice my art, respected by all men and in all times; but if I swerve from it or violate it, may the reverse be my lot.

That wasn't so bad.

 

[mmmcdowe]

Some historians believe that this oath is actually much younger than we think. This is because abortions were a common thing in Hippocrates' time. Also, this is a very PRACTICAL oath. Things like removing kidney stones were high risk to the patient. It was thought to be beneath the physician's dignity to do such work, which was allotted to surgeons. Unlike today, surgeons were viewed as mechanics more than doctors.

 

[avantdesign]

a lot of schools do a modern, revised version of the oath. i think it's called the physician's oath.

 

[LiveUninhibited]

Some historians believe that this oath is actually much younger than we think. This is because abortions were a common thing in Hippocrates' time. Also, this is a very PRACTICAL oath. Things like removing kidney stones were high risk to the patient. It was thought to be beneath the physician's dignity to do such work, which was allotted to surgeons. Unlike today, surgeons were viewed as mechanics more than doctors.

IIRC, surgeries used to be done in barber shops.

"Do no harm" has been something that irks me...

Stopping someone's heart does harm in Open Heart Surgery.
Chemotherapy does harm in Cancer Treatment.

The words need to be updated for a more modern approach. Medical procedures these days certainly do at least temporary harm. Even something as simple as taking an anti-biotic can cause bacterial imbalances. I'm not saying that the oath is wrong, but it's... not quite...

The ethical principle of nonmaleficence doesn't mean you cannot do harm in order to do a balance of good on the scale of an individual pt. It means you cannot do anything that, on balance, is more likely to do more harm to the patient than good. Of course autonomy is supreme in medical ethics, so harm is defined by the informed consent of the patient. If you tell them they have 5% chance of recovering and a 95% chance of dying more painfully, whether the procedure is harmful or not depends on what they prefer after disclosure of their options.

 

[mmmcdowe]

IIRC, surgeries used to be done in barber shops.

I'm referring to the Greek and Roman era, which is when the oath was probably written in its original form. Also, the proper name for thos middle ages barbers that did surgeries was barber surgeon. It was only in the last few centuries that the two orders split into barbers and surgeons again.

 

[LiveUninhibited]

I'm referring to the Greek and Roman era, which is when the oath was probably written in one form or another. Also, the proper name for thos middle ages barbers that did surgeries was barber surgeon.

Yeah that's fine. What I said only shows that the doctor/surgeon split continued into the middle ages. Of course modern medicine, i.e. when allopaths weren't bleeding people to balance their humors, didn't really begin until the late 1800s or early 1900s, right? So I'm not sure why they care about Hippocrates...

 

[mmmcdowe]

Yeah that's fine. What I said only shows that the doctor/surgeon split continued into the middle ages. Of course modern medicine, i.e. when allopaths weren't bleeding people to balance their humors, didn't really begin until the late 1800s or early 1900s, right? So I'm not sure why they care about Hippocrates...

Probably because of tradition for one, every calling needs a founder. Also, there is a lot of good stuff in the hippocratic oath (though I don't know why the OP thinks that you are REQUIRED to take it). Our definition of "do no harm" is a little different than the hands off one of the doctors of Kos, but they had a lot of the doctor-patient stuff down pat. I mean, their philosophy allowed them to basically monopolize the medical field of the entire Greek world. In fact, they actually beat out some guys who actually had a much more modern view of disease simply because of the fact that patients LIKED doctors that were compassionate rather than doctors that were interested to see the stages of their death (not that the Hippocratics didn't do that too, but they were a lot more sneaky about it).