Medical ethics and Hippocratic Oath

Medical ethics and Hippocratic Oath

Hippocratic Oath- Modern Version

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 [that] 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.

准許我進入醫業時：

我鄭重地保證自己要奉獻一切為人類服務。

我將要給我的師長應有的崇敬及感戴；

我將要憑我的良心和尊嚴從事醫業；

病人的健康應為我的首要的顧念；

我將要尊重所寄託予我的秘密；

我將要盡我的力量維護醫療的榮譽和高尚的傳統；

我的同業應視為我的同胞；

我將不容許有任何宗教、國籍、種族、政見、或地位的考慮介乎我的職責和病人之間；

我將要最高地維護人的生命，自從受胎時起；

即使在威脅之下，我將不運用我的醫業知識去違反人道。

我鄭重地、自主地並且以我的人格宣誓以上的約言。

Important themes of the Hippocratic Oath

The Hippocratic oath covers several important ethical issues between doctors and patients.

The oath first establishes that the practitioner of medicine give deference to the creators, teachers, and learners of medicine. This ensures that the practitioner does not forget his place in the long line of tradition in health. The oath serves as a contract for doctors to work towards the benefit of the health of the public. Other important tenets include maintaining the integrity of the doctor, ensuring the consent of the patients, preventing the exploitation of the patient, maintaining privacy and discretion, and forbidding deadly drugs, abortions, and the act of playing god.

One of the most important ideas codified in the Hippocratic oath is that the physician is accountable for his actions should problems arise. Additionally, it is important for me to note that the Hippocratic oath has an extremely individualistic perspective. The oath provides ethical guidelines for a singular doctor-patient relationship as opposed to a collective ethics code. This individualistic approach to ethics completely changes after the medical experiments of World War II are discovered.