Preview

Hippocratic Oath

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
357 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Hippocratic Oath
The Hippocratic Oath Today

The Hippocratic Oath has been applied to doctors since the time of the Ancient Greeks. Medical students within this generation still swear upon Hippocratic's Oath once commencing and concluding their medical studies. This brings into focus how important and how valued Hippocratic's Oath is within the medical community. However, the aim to find common ground between the current ethical and humanistic rights versus the Oath of Hippocrates is cause for great dilemma between doctors; dilemmas which are mainly caused by different modern interpretations of the Oath.

Hippocratic's Oath has been implemented in the lives of doctors in order to guide and give wisdom in difficult situations. Up to this day the main focus of a doctor is how to cure and treat a patient without doing any harm however, this basic rule may be demeaning for a medical professional. A particular circumstance can include a physician not knowing how to treat a particular individual. In this type of situation a doctor must consult or send his patient to another doctor even if it means a negative impact towards the doctor because it is the best thing for the patient. Not only must doctors acknowledge what is best for their patient but they must also be able to build a trusting relationship with each patient. Patients must be able to trust doctors with their lives and health. To justify that trust, doctors must show respect for human life, promote public health and maintain their medical skills up to date.

The significance of trust between a doctor and his patient is very important however, being able to fully understand and care for a patient is a delicate skill that takes many years to master. Being able to look at a patient other than a group of numbers, medications, and diseases is something that is never taught in a medical school nevertheless, it is one of the main points that are emphasized in Hippocratic's Oath. A specific example may include an individual who has

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    If we seem doubtful of the assumption that one is morally upright simply because he or she has a career in medicine, we are struck with a seemingly viable counterargument: all doctors must take the Hippocratic Oath in which they “solemnly” swear to “uphold a number of professional ethical standards” (www.nlm.nih.gov). If we still remain unconvinced as to the universal rectitude of all clinicians, we are belittled and then told that doctors do have our best intentions in mind, as they spent years and countless amounts of money thoroughly studying every aspect of the human body. For why would anyone spend 12 years and half a million dollars for any other reason than to carefully heal and nurture the body of his fellow man? Most of the time, our reliance on “authority heuristics” is rewarded as it is noted that the “majority of physicians” take the words of Hippocrates to heart and refrain from “abus[ing] their patients” (Pesta 4).…

    • 640 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Case Law Search

    • 950 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Physicians have always had a duty to keep their patients assurances. Basically, a physician's duty is to maintain assuredness of their patient/client. Assuredness to patients means that a physician may not disclose any medical information revealed to them or discovered by the physician in connection with the treatment of a patient.…

    • 950 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    And Then There Were None

    • 718 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Every doctor takes a Hippocratic oath which is an oath to practice medicine ethically and honestly.…

    • 718 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The principle of the Hippocratic Oath is one of the oldest binding documents in history. The oath states:…

    • 1496 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Medics in the western civilization have been impacted by many of ancient Greece's contributions. Hippocrates, who created the Hippocratic Oath, also referred to as "the father of medicine”. The Hippocratic Oath states that Hippocrates will treat his patient to the best of his abilities and that he will refuse to give deadly medicine to his patients. (doc.4). Many medical students and doctors still take the oath and learn about it. Today, most graduating medical students swear to some form of the oath, but just usually a modernized version.…

    • 382 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Hippocratic oath is an ancient greek document that is simply entitled “Oath.” Its age is debated; 400 BC is a reasonable estimate for when it was written. We do not know its stature in its own time; how widely or how long it was used. The oath is neither a sacred scripture nor a legal code. Through the years, although the words have changed, the meaning remains the same. Change is inevitable in all aspects of life, especially medicine. The question at hand is why does it take catastrophic events, such as the Civil War, to inspire change?…

    • 1542 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The hippocratic oath is an oath stating the responsibilities and proper conduct of a doctor. How would you feel if your doctor violated the hippocratic oath? The importance of the hippocratic oath is high and it plays a major role in a doctor’s career. Many promises are made when a doctor signs the oath and “the prohibition against killing stands as the first promise of self-restraint sworn by physicians to hippocratic oath” (“Guides: Bioethics: Hippocratic Oath, Modern…

    • 776 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Code of Medical Ethics made by the American Medical Association (AMA) which was founded in 1847 unanimously adopted the world 's first national code of professional ethics in medicine. Since that time it has been the authoritative ethics guide for practicing physicians. “The Code articulates the enduring values of medicine as a profession. As a statement of the values to which physicians commit themselves individually and collectively, the Code is a touchstone for medicine as a professional community. It defines medicine’s integrity and the source of the profession’s authority to self-regulate.” (AMA) This code has set the guidelines for the medical industry. The Hippocratic Oath also shows how guidelines are set in medicine. Hippocratic Oath is an oath historically taken by doctors and other healthcare professionals swearing to practice medicine honestly. There have been ethical guidelines in medicine a long time, the “Hippocratic oath was written in 5th century BC.” (Tyson, 2001) Such documents have been in use for thousands of years during the entire history of medicine. Each medical facility has their own ethical guidelines to follow and it plays an important role in healthcare and plays a role on patients. The last code is the National Association for Healthcare Quality (NAHQ). NAHQ’s…

    • 1316 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Confidentiality is central of trust in the doctor-patient relationship. Doctors diagnose and treat sickness based on information given to them by the patient in confidence. Confidentiality is a main condition which allows patients to communicate their symptoms, experience, beliefs, concerns and expectations about their disease and their treatment. Confidentiality is essential to safeguard a patient’s dignity, respect, privacy and autonomy and extends after death. The safeguarding of patient confidentiality is a main principle of medical ethics which dates back to the Hippocratic Oath. Confidentiality is both a patient’s right and a doctor’s duty.…

    • 98 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Health care providers should exercise integrity with all interactions because trust is such an essential component of the patient-physician relationship. A vulnerable patient that doubts their provider's honesty and moral judgment is at risk of noncompliance and avoidance of further treatment,…

    • 282 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    First of all many people visit a doctor and they trust their doctors to do what is optimal for their patients, but when a doctor a dishonest to a patient and misinformed them then that is just morally wrong. As this would mean that we as the patients can not trust our doctors to keep us informed, and that is an issue as we allow our doctors to cure us.…

    • 405 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Profession of Arms

    • 812 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Bibliography: Pbs.org,. 'NOVA | The Hippocratic Oath Today '. Last modified 2014. Accessed September 12, 2014. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/hippocratic-oath-today.html.…

    • 812 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Hippocratic oath, “specifically notes that the physician will give no deadly medicine”(Fuller 11). Just like any other document with mandating guidelines, there is room for interpretations. If a physician is following the letter of the ‘law’, they would follow the literal interpretation of the words in the oath but not necessarily the intent of Hippocrates. Following the spirt of the ‘law’ in this case, could be not to cause a patient intentional harm or pain. The over arching idea of the Hippocratic oath is to “do no harm”. Josh Sanburn writes, “Since Hippocrates, doctors have taken their credo to do no harm. But what if a patient believes the treatment to keep them alive is more harmful than death?”(Sanburn 50) In the award winning documentary, “ How to Die in Oregon” Dr. Katherine Morris sheds light on a new outlook on “do not harm”. The documentary follows the last months of a terminal ill patient, Cody Curtis’s, life. Dr. Morris states, “ I think Cody taught me that first do no harm is going to be different for every patient. Harm, for her, would have meant taking away control and saying no, no, no, you’ve got to do this the way your body decides as opposed to the way you as a person decides”(Dir. Peter Richardson). Do no harm is different for every patient and stay alive though continual suffering can cause unnecessary harm to a…

    • 1633 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As students works towards their Ph.D., they are often reminded of the things that are expected from them as they enter the workforce. One expectation that the future physicians in the United States of America are to know, is the Principles of Medical Ethics, a list of ethics adopted by the American Medical Association in June of 1957 and most recently revised in June 2001. In addition to the ethics adopted by the American Medical Association, an upcoming physician should also be aware of the World Medical Association Code of Medical Ethics. Combining both codes of ethics results in an honest and moral physician, whereas breaking the law results in serious consequences.…

    • 546 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    1st Do No Harm

    • 1773 Words
    • 8 Pages

    While reading the article, I remembered a quotation from Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider that say “Let’s not kid ourselves. Whatever we diagnose, most patients, if they don't die, get well by themselves. Our job is mainly to try to make them feel better; do no harm”. So it should be clear in our mind that, if we cannot treat a patient then we should not harm also and we should not be involved in contribution of making the condition more worse. This statement is also included in the Hippocratic Oath that a doctor must take after his graduation from medicine, which states “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”.…

    • 1773 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays