Editing Hippocratic Oath

{{Short description|Oath of ethics taken by physicians}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Distinguish|Hypocrisy}}

The '''Hippocratic Oath''' is an [[oath]] of [[ethics]] historically taken by [[physician]]s. It is one of the most widely known of Greek medical texts. In its original form, it requires a new physician to swear, by a number of [[List of health deities|healing gods]], to uphold specific ethical standards. The oath is the earliest expression of [[medical ethics]] in the Western world, establishing several principles of medical ethics which remain of paramount significance today. These include the principles of [[Confidentiality#Medical confidentiality|medical confidentiality]] and [[Medical ethics#Non-maleficence|non-maleficence]]. As the foundational articulation of certain principles that continue to guide and inform medical practice, the ancient text is of more than historic and symbolic value. It is enshrined in the legal statutes of various jurisdictions, such that violations of the oath may carry criminal or other liability beyond the oath's symbolic nature.

==Text of the oath==
[[File:Papyrus text; fragment of Hippocratic oath. Wellcome L0034090.jpg|thumb|A fragment of the oath on the 3rd-century [[Oxyrhynchus Papyri|Papyrus Oxyrhynchus]] 2547.]]
The original oath was written in [[Ancient Greek]], between the fifth and third centuries BCE.<ref>{{cite book |last=Edelstein |first=Ludwig |author-link=Ludwig Edelstein |title=The Hippocratic Oath: Text, Translation and Interpretation |page=56 |isbn=978-0-8018-0184-6 |date=1943|publisher=Johns Hopkins Press }}</ref> Although it is traditionally attributed to the Greek doctor [[Hippocrates]] and it is usually included in the [[Hippocratic Corpus]], modern scholars do not regard it as having been written by Hippocrates himself.The oldest manuscript containing the oath dates to roughly the 10th–11th century, held in the [[Vatican Library]], although <ref>{{cite web|url=https://digi.vatlib.it/view/MSS_Urb.gr.64|title=Codices urbinates graeci Bibliothecae Vaticanae: Folio 64(Urb.gr.64) |page=folio:116 microfilm: 121|publisher=Vatican Library: DigiVatLib|year=900–1100}}</ref> papyrus fragments of the oath have been found as early as the 3rd century AD. 

Below is the Hippocratic Oath, in Ancient Greek, from the 1923 Loeb edition, followed by the English translation:
{{Verse translation|lang=grc|italicsoff=y|ὄμνυμι Ἀπόλλωνα ἰητρὸν καὶ Ἀσκληπιὸν καὶ Ὑγείαν καὶ Πανάκειαν καὶ θεοὺς πάντας τε καὶ πάσας, ἵστορας ποιεύμενος, ἐπιτελέα ποιήσειν κατὰ δύναμιν καὶ κρίσιν ἐμὴν ὅρκον τόνδε καὶ συγγραφὴν τήνδε:

ἡγήσεσθαι μὲν τὸν διδάξαντά με τὴν τέχνην ταύτην ἴσα γενέτῃσιν ἐμοῖς, καὶ βίου κοινώσεσθαι, καὶ χρεῶν χρηΐζοντι μετάδοσιν ποιήσεσθαι, καὶ γένος τὸ ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἀδελφοῖς ἴσον ἐπικρινεῖν ἄρρεσι, καὶ διδάξειν τὴν τέχνην ταύτην, ἢν χρηΐζωσι μανθάνειν, ἄνευ μισθοῦ καὶ συγγραφῆς, παραγγελίης τε καὶ ἀκροήσιος καὶ τῆς λοίπης ἁπάσης μαθήσιος μετάδοσιν ποιήσεσθαι υἱοῖς τε ἐμοῖς καὶ τοῖς τοῦ ἐμὲ διδάξαντος, καὶ μαθητῇσι συγγεγραμμένοις τε καὶ ὡρκισμένοις νόμῳ ἰητρικῷ, ἄλλῳ δὲ οὐδενί.

διαιτήμασί τε χρήσομαι ἐπ᾽ ὠφελείῃ καμνόντων κατὰ δύναμιν καὶ κρίσιν ἐμήν, ἐπὶ δηλήσει δὲ καὶ ἀδικίῃ εἴρξειν.

οὐ δώσω δὲ οὐδὲ φάρμακον οὐδενὶ αἰτηθεὶς θανάσιμον, οὐδὲ ὑφηγήσομαι συμβουλίην τοιήνδε: ὁμοίως δὲ οὐδὲ γυναικὶ πεσσὸν φθόριον δώσω.

ἁγνῶς δὲ καὶ ὁσίως διατηρήσω βίον τὸν ἐμὸν καὶ τέχνην τὴν ἐμήν.

οὐ τεμέω δὲ οὐδὲ μὴν λιθιῶντας, ἐκχωρήσω δὲ ἐργάτῃσιν ἀνδράσι πρήξιος τῆσδε.

ἐς οἰκίας δὲ ὁκόσας ἂν ἐσίω, ἐσελεύσομαι ἐπ᾽ ὠφελείῃ καμνόντων, ἐκτὸς ἐὼν πάσης ἀδικίης ἑκουσίης καὶ φθορίης, τῆς τε ἄλλης καὶ ἀφροδισίων ἔργων ἐπί τε γυναικείων σωμάτων καὶ ἀνδρῴων, ἐλευθέρων τε καὶ δούλων.

ἃ δ᾽ ἂν ἐνθεραπείῃ ἴδω ἢ ἀκούσω, ἢ καὶ ἄνευ θεραπείης κατὰ βίον ἀνθρώπων, ἃ μὴ χρή ποτε ἐκλαλεῖσθαι ἔξω, σιγήσομαι, ἄρρητα ἡγεύμενος εἶναι τὰ τοιαῦτα.

ὅρκον μὲν οὖν μοι τόνδε ἐπιτελέα ποιέοντι, καὶ μὴ συγχέοντι, εἴη ἐπαύρασθαι καὶ βίου καὶ τέχνης δοξαζομένῳ παρὰ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ἐς τὸν αἰεὶ χρόνον: παραβαίνοντι δὲ καὶ ἐπιορκέοντι, τἀναντία τούτων.<ref name=Loeb_Greek>{{cite journal|last1=Hippocrates of Cos|title=The Oath|journal=Loeb Classical Library|date=1923|volume=147|pages=298–299|doi=10.4159/DLCL.hippocrates_cos-oath.1923|url=http://www.loebclassics.com/view/hippocrates_cos-oath/1923/pb_LCL147.299.xml|access-date=6 October 2015}}</ref>|I swear by [[Apollo]] Healer, by [[Asclepius]], by [[Hygieia]], by [[Panacea]], and by all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will carry out, according to my ability and judgment, this oath and this indenture.

To hold my teacher in this art equal to my own parents; to make him partner in my livelihood; when he is in need of money to share mine with him; to consider his family as my own brothers, and to teach them this art, if they want to learn it, without fee or indenture; to impart precept, oral instruction, and all other instruction to my own sons, the sons of my teacher, and to indentured pupils who have taken the Healer's oath, but to nobody else.

I will use those dietary regimens which will benefit my patients according to my greatest ability and judgment, and I will do no harm or injustice to them.<ref>{{cite web |title=Greek Medicine – The Hippocratic Oath |url=https://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/greek/greek_oath.html |website=www.nlm.nih.gov |publisher=National Library of Medicine – NIH |access-date=29 July 2020}}</ref> Neither will I administer a poison to anybody when asked to do so, nor will I suggest such a course. Similarly I will not give to a woman a [[pessary]] to cause abortion. But I will keep pure and holy both my life and my art. I will not use the knife, not even, verily, on sufferers from [[kidney stone|stone]], but I will give place to such as are craftsmen therein.

Into whatsoever houses I enter, I will enter to help the sick, and I will abstain from all intentional wrong-doing and harm, especially from abusing the bodies of man or woman, bond or free. And whatsoever I shall see or hear in the course of my profession, as well as outside my profession in my intercourse with men, if it be what should not be published abroad, I will never divulge, holding such things to be holy secrets.

Now if I carry out this oath, and break it not, may I gain for ever reputation among all men for my life and for my art; but if I break it and forswear myself, may the opposite befall me.<ref name="Loeb_Greek" />|attr2=Translation by W.H.S. Jones}}

==Context and interpretation==
[[File:Hippocrates.jpg|thumb|The Greek physician [[Hippocrates]] (460–370 BC), to whom the oath is traditionally attributed, though most modern scholars challenge that attribution.]]
The oath is arguably the best known text of the [[Hippocratic Corpus]], although most modern scholars do not attribute it to Hippocrates himself, estimating it to have been written in the fourth or fifth century BCE.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Jouanna|first1=Jacques|title=Hippocrates|date=2001|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|location=Baltimore, Md.|isbn=978-0-8018-6818-4|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/hippocrates0000joua}}</ref> Its general ethical principles are also found in other works of the Corpus: the work entitled ''Physician'' mentions the obligation to keep the "holy things" of medicine within the medical community (i.e. not to divulge secrets); it also mentions the special position of the doctor with regard to his patients, especially women and girls.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Potter|editor-first=Paul|title=Hippocrates|date=1995|publisher=Harvard Univ. Press u.a.|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|isbn=978-0-674-99531-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/hippocrates01hipp_0/page/295 295–315]|edition=Reprint|url=https://archive.org/details/hippocrates01hipp_0/page/295}}</ref> In antiquity, the punishment for breaking the Hippocratic oath could range from a penalty to losing the right to practice medicine.<ref>{{cite book|last=Nutton|first=Vivian|title=Ancient Medicine|year=2004|publisher=Routledge|location=New York, NY}}</ref> However, several aspects of the oath contradict patterns of practice established elsewhere in the Corpus. Most notable is its ban on the use of the knife, even for small procedures such as [[lithotomy]], even though other works in the Corpus provide guidance on performing surgical procedures.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Nutton|first1=Vivian|title=Ancient medicine|date=2012|publisher=Routledge|location=Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon|isbn=978-0-415-52095-9|page=68|edition=2nd}}</ref>

=== Euthanasia ===
Providing poisonous drugs would certainly have been viewed as immoral by contemporary physicians if it resulted in murder. However, the absolute ban described in the oath also forbids [[euthanasia]]. Several accounts of ancient physicians willingly [[Assisted suicide|assisting suicides]] have survived.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Edelstein|first1=Ludwig|title=Ancient Medicine: Selected Papers of Ludwig Edelstein|date=1967|publisher=Johns Hopkins Press|location=Baltimore, Md.|isbn=978-0-8018-0183-9|pages=9–15}}</ref> Multiple explanations for the prohibition of euthanasia in the oath have been proposed: it is possible that not all physicians swore the oath, or that the oath was seeking to prevent widely held concerns that physicians could be employed as political assassins.<ref name="swear by">{{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=2026–2029|publisher=Massachusetts Medical Society|doi=10.1056/NEJMp048092|pmid=15141039|access-date=1 March 2017}}</ref>

=== Abortion ===
The oath contains a prohibition of abortion, which contradicts another Hippocratic text ''On the Nature of the Child'', which contains a description of an abortion, without any implication that it was morally wrong,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Lonie|first1=Iain M.|title=The Hippocratic treatises, "On generation," "On the nature of the child," "Diseases IV" a commentary|date=1981|publisher=De Gruyter|location=Berlin|isbn=978-3-11-086396-3|page=7}}</ref> and descriptions of abortifacient medications are numerous in the ancient medical literature.<ref>{{cite book|last1=King|first1=Helen|title=Hippocrates' woman: reading the female body in ancient Greece|date=1998|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=978-0-415-13895-6|pages=132–156}}</ref> 

The oath's stance on abortion was unclear even in the ancient world where physicians debated whether the specification of pessaries was a ban on simply [[Pessary|pessaries]], or a blanket ban on all abortion methods:<ref name=":0">{{Cite thesis |title=The "Hippocratic" Stance on Abortion: The Translation, Interpretation, and Use of the Hippocratic Oath in the Abortion Debate from the Ancient World to Present-Day |url=https://qspace.library.queensu.ca/handle/1974/24465 |date=2018 |degree=Master of Arts |language=en |first=Olivia |last=De Brabandere |publisher=Queen's University |pages=3–4, 7, 58}}</ref> In the earliest surviving reference to the oath, written in 43 AD, [[Scribonius Largus]] was adamant that it precluded abortion.<ref name=Largus/> In the 1st or 2nd century AD work ''Gynaecology'', [[Soranus of Ephesus]] wrote that one party of medical practitioners followed the Oath and banished all abortifacients, while the other party—to which he belonged—was willing to prescribe abortions, but only for the sake of the mother's health.<ref name=Largus>[http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/aconite/largus.html "Scribonius Largus"]</ref><ref name=Soranus>{{cite book|last1=Soranus, Owsei Temkin|title=Soranus' Gynecology|date=1956|publisher=JHU Press|location=I.19.60|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YsKWfh31gxwC&q=soranus%20gynecology%20digital&pg=PR1|access-date=6 October 2015|isbn=978-0-8018-4320-4}}</ref> [[William Henry Samuel Jones]] believes that, although the oath prohibited abortions, it may not have been condemned under all circumstances.<ref name=":0" /> [[John M. Riddle]] argues that because Hippocrates specified pessaries, he only meant pessaries and therefore it was acceptable for a Hippocratic doctor to perform abortions using oral drugs, violent means, a disruption of daily routine or eating habits, and more. Other scholars, most notably [[Ludwig Edelstein]], believe that the author intended to prohibit any and all abortions.<ref name=":0" /> Olivia De Brabandere writes that regardless of the author's original intention, the vague and polyvalent nature of the relevant line has allowed both professionals and non-professionals to interpret and use the oath in several ways.<ref name=":0" /> While many Christian versions of the Hippocratic Oath, particularly from the Middle Ages, explicitly prohibited abortion, the prohibition is often omitted from many oaths taken in US medical schools today, though it remains controversial.<ref name="swear by"/>

=== Religious themes ===
[[File:HippocraticOath.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|A 12th-century [[Byzantine Empire|Greek]] manuscript of the oath in the shape of a cross. The oath continued to be in use in the Byzantine Christian world, with its references to pagan deities replaced by a Christian preamble.]]
The oath stands out among comparable ancient texts on medical ethics and professionalism through its heavily religious tone, a factor which makes attributing its authorship to Hippocrates particularly difficult. Phrases such as "but I will keep pure and holy both my life and my art" suggest a deep, almost monastic devotion to the art of medicine. He who keeps to the oath is promised "reputation among all men for my life and for my art". This contrasts heavily with Galenic writings on professional ethics, which employ a far more pragmatic approach, where good practice is defined as effective practice, without reference to deities.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Wear|editor1-first=Andrew|editor2-last=Geyer-Kordesch|editor2-first=Johanna|editor3-last=French|editor3-first=Roger Kenneth|title=Doctors and Ethics: The Earlier Historical Setting of Professional Ethics|date=1993|publisher=Rodopi|location=Amsterdam|pages=10–37}}</ref> The oath's importance among the medical community is nonetheless attested by its appearance on the tombstones of physicians, and by the fourth century AD it had come to stand for the medical profession.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=von Staden|first1=H|title=In a pure and holy way. Personal and professional conduct in the Hippocratic Oath|journal=Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences|volume=51|date=1996|issue=4|pages=404–437|doi=10.1093/jhmas/51.4.404|pmid=9019063}}</ref> The oath continued to be in use in the Byzantine Christian world with its references to pagan deities replaced by a Christian preamble.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Nutton|first1=Vivian|title=Ancient medicine|date=2012|publisher=Routledge|location=Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon|isbn=978-0-415-52095-9|page=415, note 87|edition=2nd}}</ref>

==="First do no harm"===
{{Main|Primum non nocere}}
Although it is often said that "First do no harm" ({{Langx|la|Primum non nocere}}) is a part of the original Hippocratic oath, no such phrase from which "First" or "Primum" can be translated appears in the text of the original oath, although a similar intention is vowed by, "I will abstain from all intentional wrong-doing and harm". Another related phrase is found in Epidemics, Book I, of the Hippocratic school: "Practice two things in your dealings with disease: either help or do not harm the patient".<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Lloyd|editor1-first=Geoffrey|title=Hippocratic Writings|date=1983|publisher=Penguin Books|location=London|isbn=978-0-14-044451-3|pages=[https://archive.org/details/hippocraticwriti0000hipp/page/94 94]|edition=2nd|url=https://archive.org/details/hippocraticwriti0000hipp/page/94}}</ref> and it likely took shape from longstanding popular nonmedical expression.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Suss |first=Richard A. |date=November 21, 2024 |title=''First Do No Harm'' Is Proverbial, Not Hippocratic |journal=OSF Preprints |language=en |doi=10.31219/osf.io/c23jq}}</ref>

==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>

==See also==
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* [[Hospital Corpsman]] Pledge
* [[Medical ethics]]
* [[Participation of medical professionals in American executions]]
* [[Patient safety]]
* [[Peelian principles]]
* ''[[Primum non nocere]]''
* {{section link|Sushruta#Followers}}
* [[Sun Simiao]]
* [[White Coat Ceremony]]
}}

; Ethical codes of conduct for physicians
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* [[Charaka shapath]]
* [[Declaration of Geneva]]
* [[Nightingale Pledge]]
* [[Oath of Asaph]]
* [[Seventeen Rules of Enjuin]]
* [[Vejjavatapada]]
}}

; Ethical principles for human experimentation
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* [[Declaration of Helsinki]]
* [[Human experimentation in the United States]]
* [[Nuremberg code]]
}}

; Ethical practices for engineers
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* [[Iron Ring]]
* [[Order of the Engineer]]
* [[Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer]]
}}
; Science

{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* [[Hippocratic Oath for Scientists]]
}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite journal|last=Hulkower|first=Raphael|title=The History of the Hippocratic Oath: Outdated, Inauthentic, and Yet Still Relevant|journal=The Einstein Journal of Biology and Medicine|year=2010|volume=25/26|pages=41–44}}
*[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/doctors/oath.html The Hippocratic Oath Today: Meaningless Relic or Invaluable Moral Guide?] &ndash; a PBS NOVA online discussion with responses from doctors as well as 2 versions of the oath.
*{{cite book |last= Kass |first= Leon |date= 2008 |title= Toward a More Natural Science |publisher= Simon & Schuster |isbn= 978-0-02-917071-7 |url= https://archive.org/details/towardmorenatura00kass }}
*Lewis Richard Farnell, ''Greek Hero Cults and Ideas of Immortality'', 1921.
*[http://ethics.iit.edu/perspective/v19n1%20perspective.pdf "Codes of Ethics: Some History" by Robert Baker, Union College in Perspectives on the Professions, Vol. 19, No. 1, Fall 1999] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225045509/http://ethics.iit.edu/perspective/v19n1%20perspective.pdf |date=2021-02-25 }}, ethics.iit.edu

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
*[http://www.h2g2.com/approved_entry/A1103798 Hippocratic Oath], [[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]] ([[h2g2]]).
*[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/doctors/oath_classical.html Hippocratic Oath] &ndash; Classical version, pbs.org
*[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/doctors/oath_modern.html Hippocratic Oath] &ndash; Modern version, pbs.org
*[http://web2.bium.univ-paris5.fr/livanc/?cote=00002&p=13&do=page Hippocratis jusiurandum] &ndash; Image of a 1595 copy of the Hippocratic oath with side-by-side original Greek and Latin translation, bium.univ-paris5.fr
*[https://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/greek/greek_oath.html Hippocrates | The Oath] &ndash; [[National Institutes of Health]] page about the Hippocratic oath, nlm.nih.gov
*[http://www.zpu-journal.ru/en/articles/detail.php?ID=330 Tishchenko P. D. Resurrection of the Hippocratic Oath in Russia], zpu-journal.ru
* [https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/ama-code-medical-ethics AMA Code of Medical Ethics]
* [http://www.gmc-uk.org/guidance/good_medical_practice.asp Good Medical Practice] (from Britain's [[General Medical Council]])
* [https://epomedicine.com/hippocratic-oath-health-bloggers/ Hippocratic oath for Medical Bloggers]
{{Portal bar|Medicine}}

[[Category:Oaths of medicine]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek medicine]]
[[Category:Texts in Ionic Greek]]
[[Category:Philosophy of medicine]]
[[Category:Medical ethics]]

[[hu:Hippokratész#A hippokratészi eskü]]