"Hippocratic Oath" and "The Law of Hippocrates"
(Fifth Century b.c.)

URL: http://ftp.std.com/obi/Hippocrates/Hippocratic.Oath

SITE SUMMARY: This Oath was probably first written around the year 490 b.c., by the Greek physician Hippocrates, one of Western civilization's first physicians who is often called the Father of the Medical Profession. The translation here was first published in Harvard Classics, Vol. 38 (1910), and became a public domain document in 1993. From Hippocrates' time, it has been the creed of basic principles by which doctors guide the ways they do their work. Many still follow his guidelines. "The Law of Hippocrates" elaborates on the principles of the "Hippocratic Oath."

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES

1. By which two ways did Hippocrates declare he would keep this oath? What did he say he would follow for the benefit of patients? What are the four things he said he would avoid regarding patients? What did he say he would keep secret?
2. Which two methods of instruction did he use, and suggest, for teaching the skills of the medical profession?
3. What was Hippocrates' opinion regarding a particular "treatment" involving women? How has the medical profession's viewpoint and public opinion changed toward this now controversial subject? Keeping the oath in mind, how do you think Hippocrates might react to the conservative viewpoint on the subject? Choose another controversial subject concerning medical ethics, such as euthanasia, the death penalty, or cloning, and formulate an argument for or against it. Include in your answer a quote or citation from the "Hippocratic Oath" and another oath or principle to back up your decision. (For some help, see Web sites cited in the Related Internet Sites section below.)
4. Check these Web sites: Oaths, Quotes and Prayers for Physicians; Principles of Medical Ethics; and A Revised and Modernized "Hippocratic Oath." (Find their urls as cited in the Related Internet Sites section below.) Compare Hippocrates' oath's original tenets with a modern version, present-day medical principles, and medical-related or health-related prayer.
5. Regarding Hippocrates' Law: Who are people who may have a title but are not really what the title says they are? What should a person be who wants to learn medicine? What is bad about "inexperience" in the medical profession, and why and how might it be said of other professions in general, and another profession in particular? Study the Law's paragraph starting: "Instruction in medicine is like the culture of the productions of the Earth…." Think of other ways to apply this paragraph's metaphors. Consider the questions above (about what a person should be, and inexperience) with reference to a particular profession and the Web site on Professional Ethics. (Its url is cited in the Related Internet Sites section below.)
6. Look at medical ethics of the past and present, in general, and on one medical subject, at sites noted in Question/Activity no. 4 above and at sites such as "Hippocrates and Medicine in the Third Millennium"; Ethics Connection; and "Interlife Pro-Life Resources." (Find online as indicated in the Related Internet Sites section below.) Compare, contrast, and comment on what you find out.
7. Choose a particular medical situation, such as surgery, organ donations, disaster victims' treatments, special tests during pregnancy for conditions that endanger physical or mental health in a family's history, or an amniocentesis test during mid-life pregnancy. Imagine you are a doctor, a patient, or a patient's relative. Make a decision regarding the situation. Support your decision, quoting from a medical oath, principle, declaration, or prayer, found at sites cited in the Related Internet Sites section below.
8. Anthropologist Margaret Mead is quoted at the "Hippocrates and Medicine in the Third Millennium" Web site (its url is cited in the Related Internet Sites section below.) How did she refer to the medical profession and doctors with reference to the primitive world and the civilization of the ancient Greeks? What did she believe is the duty of society with respect to physicians? What did she say is a "priceless possession"?
9. Read articles by Abraham Lincoln, Carl Sagan, and Ann Druyan. (Find online via links at edinformatics.com as stated in the Related Internet Sites section below.) Noting complexities they saw with reference to the subject, comment on each well-known author's view on abortion, and provide quotations from what they wrote.

RELATED INTERNET SITE(S)

"Hippocrates and Medicine in the Third Millennium"

http://www.johnpatrick.ca/papers/jp_hippoc.htm

This article, by Dr. John Patrick, Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Paediatrics, University of Ottawa, offers pessimistic and optimistic views on Hippocrates' Oath and Law as they are or have been ignored or adapted and applied in modern times. Note the article's sections: Oaths versus Codes, Physician/Patient Relationships, Trust, The Sanctity of Life, and Transcendence. Note the quotation by U.S. anthropologist Margaret Mead, revealing her views of physicians with reference to the primitive world and ancient Greek civilization, society's duty to physicians, and a "priceless possession."

Principles of Medical Ethics (2001)

http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/2512.html

Standards of conduct that define physicians' behavior toward patients. Established by the American Medical Association's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs.

Oaths, Quotes, and Prayers, for Physicians

http://members.aol.com/rnmlc/spiny.html

A doctor provides this collection of medical people's comments, quotations, and prayers related to health and medical conditions. Among the people are author-doctor William Carlos Williams. Included are the "Prayer of Maimonides" (by a twelfth century physician, translated 1917), and a 1983 version of the 1948 "Declaration of Geneva."

Biotechnology and Health Care Ethics at Ethics Connection

http://www.scu.edu/SCU/Centers/Ethics

This section of the Web site for the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, at California's Santa Clara University, offers an articles database on health care ethics. Also note links to "browse related websites" and "practicing ethics."

Professional Ethics Links

http://www.chowan.edu/acadp/ethics/professional_ethics_links.htm

In this area of the Web site for the Center for Ethics at Chowan College, Murfreesboro, North Carolina, there are links to information on organizations, and standards of conduct or ethics, in various professions, such as environmental sciences, engineering, education.

A Revised and Modernized Version of the "Hippocratic Oath"

http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/∼focus205/biomed/oath.htm

A version of the "Hippocratic Oath" approved by the American Medical Association.

Ancient Medicine/Medicina Antiqua

http://www.ea.pvt.k12.pa.us/medant

Note alphabet links to online documents, such as E for essays (including "Hippocrates: The Greek Miracle in Medicine"); R for resources online; and H for hypertexts of writings by Hippocrates and Galen (thought of as the physician who bridged the ancient and modern worlds of medicine while and after he lived during the first century a.d.).

Society: Issues: Abortion

http://www.edinformatics.com (type abortion in search box, click search button)

Click "Society: Issues: Abortion" link for links to pro-choice and pro-life views, the abortion issue as a dilemma, and alternatives to abortion. Note links to Atlantic Monthly magazine online items; articles online elsewhere (i.e., "Abortion in Law, History, and Religion"; "History of Abortion in the U.S."; Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan's "Is It Possible To Be Both Pro-life and Pro-Choice?"; "On Abortion: A Lincolnian Position"). See also links to InterLife Pro-Life Resources (with documents on the pro-life stance against abortion, euthanasia, and cloning); and Planned Parenthood of America Policy Statements (with pro-choice stances on abortion not known, thought of, or available in Hippocrates' time; and speeches such as "Responsible Choices").

"Women's Choices in the Western World: A Comparative Analysis" by Johanna Wilson

http://www.urop.uci.edu/Journal98/JohannaWilson/FramePage.html

Looks at various views of abortion, including, on page two, fourth paragraph, to the right, data on a long-held conservative viewpoint still advocated by some people.

Excerpt from Proclamation Three in "Is Abortion Really So Bad?" by Dr. J.P. Beeke

http://hometown.aol.com/twarren13/abort.html (scroll to last third of Web page)

See Proclamation's paragraphs six and seven. Note comment on "One way of catching class attention" to learn of a medical journal's classic case report (of medical students asked for recommendations on an abortion for parents with handicapped children, then discovering that an approval would have meant terminating the composer Beethoven).