Editing Hippocratic Oath (section)

==Modern versions and relevance==
[[File:Hippocrates rubens.jpg|thumb|upright|An engraving of Hippocrates by [[Peter Paul Rubens]], 1638]]
The Hippocratic Oath has been eclipsed as a document of professional ethics by more extensive, regularly updated ethical codes issued by national medical associations, such as the American Medical Association's ''Code of Medical Ethics'' (first adopted in 1847), and the British [[General Medical Council |General Medical Council's]] ''Good Medical Practice''. These documents provide a comprehensive overview of the obligations and professional behaviour of a doctor to their patients and wider society. Doctors who violate these codes may be subjected to disciplinary proceedings, including the loss of their license to practice medicine. Nonetheless, the length of these documents has made their distillations into shorter oaths an attractive proposition. In light of this fact, several updates to the oath have been offered in modern times,<ref>Buchholz B, et al. Prohibición de la litotomía y derivación a expertos en los juramentos médicos de la genealogía hipocrática. Actas Urologicas Espanolas. Volume 40, Issue 10, December 2016, Pages 640–645.</ref><ref>{{cite journal|pmc=2540578|year=1994|last1=Oswald|first1=H.|title=Outcome of childhood asthma in mid-adult life|journal=BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.)|volume=309|issue=6947|pages=95–96|last2=Phelan|first2=P. D.|last3=Lanigan|first3=A.|last4=Hibbert|first4=M.|last5=Bowes|first5=G.|last6=Olinsky|first6=A.|pmid=8038676|doi=10.1136/bmj.309.6947.95}}</ref> some facetious.<ref>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1056/NEJM198601023140122|pmid=3940324|title=The Hippocratic Oath — Corporate Version|journal=New England Journal of Medicine|volume=314|issue=1|pages=62|year=1986|last1=Schiedermayer|first1=D. L.}}</ref>

In 1948, the [[World Medical Association]] (WMA) drafted a medical oath, called the [[Declaration of Geneva]]. "During the post World War II and immediately after its foundation, the WMA showed concern over the state of medical ethics in general and over the world. The WMA took up the responsibility for setting ethical guidelines for the world's physicians. It noted that in those years the custom of medical schools to administer an oath to its doctors upon graduation or receiving a license to practice medicine had fallen into disuse or become a mere formality".<ref>{{cite web|last1=World Medical Association, Inc.|title=WMA History|url=http://www.wma.net/en/60about/70history/index.html|website=www.wma.net|publisher=World Medical Association, Inc.|access-date=1 November 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150206154153/http://www.wma.net/en/60about/70history/index.html|archive-date=6 February 2015}}</ref> In [[Nazi Germany]], medical students did not take the Hippocratic Oath, although they knew the ethic of "nil nocere"—do no harm.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Baumslag|first1=Naomi|title=Murderous Medicine: Nazi Doctors, Human Experimentation, and Typhus|url=https://archive.org/details/murderousmedicin0000baum/page/|url-access=registration|date=2005|publisher=Praeger Publishers|isbn=978-0-275-98312-3|pages=[https://archive.org/details/murderousmedicin0000baum/page/ xxv]}}</ref>{{fv|date=September 2021}}

In the 1964, [[Louis Lasagna]], Academic Dean of the School of Medicine at Tufts University, wrote a modern version of the Hippocratic Oath in which the prayer was omitted, that focused on "utmost respect for human life from its beginning", making it a more secular obligation, not to be taken in the presence of any gods, but before only other people. This version is still in use today by many US medical schools:<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/hippocratic-oath-today.html|title=The Hippocratic Oath Today|website=[[PBS]] |date=27 March 2001 }}</ref>
<blockquote> 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.</blockquote>

In a 1989 survey of 126 US medical schools, only three of them reported use of the original oath, while thirty-three used the Declaration of Geneva, sixty-seven used a modified Hippocratic Oath, four used the [[Oath of Maimonides]], one used a covenant, eight used another oath, one used an unknown oath, and two did not use any kind of oath. Seven medical schools did not reply to the survey.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Crawshaw|first1=R|title=The Hippocratic oath. Is alive and well in North America|journal=BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.)|date=8 October 1994|volume=309|issue=6959|pages=952–953|pmid=7950672|pmc=2541124|doi=10.1136/bmj.309.6959.952}}</ref> As of 1993, only 14% of medical oaths prohibited euthanasia, and only 8% prohibited abortion.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Markel|first1=Howard|title="I Swear by Apollo" — On Taking the Hippocratic Oath|url=http://www.praxis-hegibach.ch/downloads-10/downloads-13/files/the%20hippocratic%20oath.pdf|journal=The New England Journal of Medicine|year=2004|volume=350|issue=20|pages=2026–9|publisher=Massachusetts Medical Society|doi=10.1056/NEJMp048092|pmid=15141039|access-date=1 March 2017}}</ref> In a 2000 survey of US medical schools, all of the then extant medical schools administered some type of professional oath. Among schools of modern medicine, sixty-two of 122 used the Hippocratic Oath, or a modified version of it. The other sixty schools used the original or modified Declaration of Geneva, Oath of Maimonides, or an oath authored by students or faculty or both. All nineteen osteopathic schools in the United States used the [[Osteopathic Oath]],<ref name="content analysis">{{cite journal|last1=Kao|first1=AC|last2=Parsi|first2=KP|title=Content analyses of oaths administered at U.S. medical schools in 2000.|journal=Academic Medicine|date=September 2004|volume=79|issue=9|pages=882–7|pmid=15326016|doi=10.1097/00001888-200409000-00015|doi-access=free}}</ref> which is taken in place of or in addition to the Hippocratic Oath. The Osteopathic Oath was first used in 1938, and the current version has been in use since 1954.<ref name="osteopathic oath">{{cite news |title=Osteopathic Oath |url=http://www.osteopathic.org/inside-aoa/about/leadership/Pages/osteopathic-oath.aspx |access-date=28 November 2014 |newspaper=American Osteopathic Association}}</ref> 

There is no direct punishment for breaking the Hippocratic Oath, although an arguable equivalent in modern times is [[medical malpractice]], which carries a wide range of punishments, from imprisonment to civil penalties.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Groner M.D.|first=Johnathan|title=The Hippocratic Paradox: The Role of The Medical Profession In Capital Punishment In The United States|journal=Fordham Urban Law |year=2008}}</ref> Medical professionals may also be subject to other parts of the criminal and civil law for conduct contrary to both an oath taken and to a more general prohibition on, for example, doing physical or other harm to other persons. In the United States, several major judicial decisions have made reference to the classical Hippocratic Oath, either upholding or dismissing its bounds for medical ethics: ''[[Roe v. Wade]]'', ''[[Washington v. Harper]]'', ''Compassion in Dying v. State of Washington'' (1996), and ''Thorburn v. Department of Corrections'' (1998).<ref name=Hasday_Yale>{{cite journal|last1=Hasday|first1=Lisa|title=The Hippocratic Oath as Literary Text: A Dialogue|journal=Yale Journal of Health Policy, Law, and Ethics|date=23 February 2013|volume=2|issue=2|page=Article 4|url=http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1045&context=yjhple|access-date=6 October 2015}}</ref> 

In France, it is common for new medical graduates to sign a written oath.<ref name="Medical oaths and declarations">{{cite journal|last=Sritharan|first=Kaji|author2=Georgina Russell |author3=Zoe Fritz |author4=Davina Wong |author5=Matthew Rollin |author6=Jake Dunning |author7=Bruce Wayne |author8=Philip Morgan |author9=Catherine Sheehan |title=Medical oaths and declarations|journal=BMJ|date=December 2000|volume=323|issue=7327|pages=1440–1|pmid=11751345|pmc=1121898|doi=10.1136/bmj.323.7327.1440}}</ref><ref name="Letters, BMJ 8/8/1994">{{cite journal|last1=Crawshaw|first1=R|last2=Pennington|first2=T H|last3=Pennington|first3=C I|last4=Reiss|first4=H|last5=Loudon|first5=I|title=Letters|journal=BMJ|date=October 1994|volume=309|pages=952–953|pmc=2541124|pmid=7950672|issue=6959|doi=10.1136/bmj.309.6959.952}}</ref>

In 1995, [[Sir Joseph Rotblat]], in his acceptance speech for the [[Nobel Peace Prize]], suggested a [[Hippocratic Oath for Scientists]].<ref>{{cite news | title = Nobel Prize winner calls for ethics oath| url = https://physicsworld.com/a/nobel-prize-winner-calls-for-ethics-oath/ | publisher = Physics World |date=19 December 1997 | access-date = 2008-07-19}}</ref>

In November 2005, [[Saparmurat Niyazov]], then leader of [[Turkmenistan]], declared that doctors should swear an oath to him instead of the Hippocratic Oath.<ref name="Turkmen Doctors">{{cite web | title=Turkmen Doctors Pledge Allegiance To Niyazov | website=RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty | date=15 November 2005 | url=https://www.rferl.org/a/1062955.html | access-date=24 August 2024}}</ref>

In 2007, US citizen [[Rafiq Abdus Sabir]] was convicted for making a pledge to [[al-Qaeda]], thus agreeing to provide medical aid to wounded terrorists.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://trial-and-terror.theintercept.com/people/7fcd767d-4a52-4f82-a10d-50d1ceb86ae9|title=Trial and Terror|access-date=2021-05-07|archive-date=2021-05-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507125220/https://trial-and-terror.theintercept.com/people/7fcd767d-4a52-4f82-a10d-50d1ceb86ae9|url-status=dead}}</ref>

As of 2018, all US medical school graduates made some form of public oath but none used the original Hippocratic Oath.  A modified form or an oath unique to that school is often used. A review of 18 of these oaths was criticized for their wide variability: "Consistency would help society see that physicians are members of a profession that's committed to a shared set of essential ethical values."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Weiner |first1=Stacey |title=The solemn truth about medical oaths |url=https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/solemn-truth-about-medical-oaths |website=aamc.org |publisher=American Association of Medical Colleges |access-date=17 June 2022 |date=10 July 2018}}</ref>

In 2022, at a college in the [[India]]n state of [[Tamil Nadu]], medical students took the [[Charaka shapath]], a [[Sanskrit]] oath attributed to ancient sage and physician ''[[Charaka|Maharishi Charak]]'' instead of the Hippocratic oath. The state government subsequently dismissed the Dean of the Madurai medical college for this act.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-05-01 |title=Madurai college dean removed after MBBS students take 'Charak Shapath' |url=https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/madurai-college-dean-removed-after-mbbs-students-take-charak-shapath-163459 |access-date=2022-05-02 |website=The News Minute |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-05-01 |title=Sanskrit replaces Hippocratic Oath; Tamil Nadu shunts out Madurai Medical College dean |url=https://www.deccanherald.com/national/south/sanskrit-replaces-hippocratic-oath-tamil-nadu-shunts-out-madurai-medical-college-dean-1105521.html |access-date=2022-05-02 |website=Deccan Herald |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=TN medical college dean removed after row over Charak Shapath |url=https://news.google.com/articles/CAIiEGRg_qknf35kzDh_5zdI-IYqGQgEKhAIACoHCAowzrL9CjDC7vQCMJmD1wU |access-date=2022-05-02 |website=Google News |language=en}}</ref> However, he was reinstated by the Tamil Nadu government and assumed office 4 days later.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2022-05-06 |title=Charak Shapath row: A Rathinavel returns as dean of Madurai Medical College |url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil-nadu/2022/May/06/charak-shapath-row-a-rathinavel-returns-as-dean-of-madurai-medical-college-2450259.html |access-date=2025-03-05 |website=The New Indian Express |language=en}}</ref>