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What Is The Hippocratic Oath?
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The
graduation ceremony of most medical colleges throughout the world includes
the newly registered medical practitioners taking the Hippocratic oath. The
Hippocratic oath is an ethical code governing medical practices. The
Hippocratic oath has for many years been attributed to Greek physician
Hippocrates, but studies have revealed it to date back to the 4th
Century BC, long before Hippocrates’ time. Probably he emphasized it and
hence his name became attached to the oath. His writings greatly influenced
Greek medical practices and ethics.
What
the oath says
The text of
the actual oath has two sections. One section deals with the doctor’s
relation to his peers and teachers and the other section deals with the
doctor’s relationship and duty towards his patients. The first section
exhorts the doctors to be loyal to the profession of medicine and be just,
fair and respectful while dealing with fellow members. It emphasizes the
importance of a doctor being upright and honest. |
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A
patient approaching a doctor does so with trust in his abilities for
relieving suffering. What is there to ensure that the doctor will perform
his duties to the best of his abilities without any kind of a bias or
personal ill feeling? A doctor is after all a human being with all the
drawbacks that any normal person has. The oath takes into consideration the
awesome power that rests with a physician. The oath aims to instill in the
doctor a thought that it should become second nature to him. The guiding
thought that is always at the back of a physician’s mind is that the
treatment he prescribes should be only beneficial to the patient and when
prescribing it, he should use the best of his abilities and judgment. And
he should refrain from causing any harm or hurt to anybody. This is very
important, as a patient trusts a doctor with his life and almost blindly
follows all instruction given to him by a doctor. This trust should not in
any event be misused. During the course of treatment, a lot of information
about a patient may be revealed to the doctor. The doctor is bound under the
oath to maintain secrecy about such information.
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The
Greek physician Hippocrates one or many?
The Greek
physician Hippocrates was a contemporary of Herodotus the historian. Hence
we have records of his time. Hippocrates was born between 470 and 460 BC in
the island of Cos. The family that he belonged to claimed to be the
descendants of Apollo the physician. It is believed that many physicians of
repute belonged to this family.
The
Hippocratic collection – a collection of manuscripts – has survived the
vagaries of time and tells us about the medical practices adopted in those
times. It is this manuscript that also gave us the code of prescribed
ethical grounds for the teachers of medicine and the students of medicine to
follow.
As
research has shown that the earliest manuscript classified under the
Hippocratic collection, dates back to the 10th Century. It has
given rise to speculation as to whether ‘Hippocrates’ was a title
that passed on from person to person. Another opinion voiced by
historians is that Hippocrates could have been responsible for
compiling them and presenting them in a form that was useful. The
Hippocratic Collection covers a variety of subjects like anatomy,
diseases that affect women and children, treatment by
diet and drugs, surgery, specific diseases
like epilepsy and so on. A prominent section is
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A statue of
Hippocrates |
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one on
epidemics.
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