BMJ 1994;309:952-953 (8 October)

Letters

The Hippocratic oath

Is alive and well in North America

EDITOR, - If, as Irvine Loudon speculates,1 oath taking by medical graduates in the United Kingdom is a myth it stands in stark contrast with the use of medical oaths in Canada and the United States. I have followed the growth of the use of medical oaths in the United States for 30 years.2 Currently, about 98% of the medical schools in the United States use some form of medical oath.

A remarkable development can be seen in how the classic Hippocratic oath is being displaced by other medical oaths and covenants, presumably because the classic oath ignores relevant ethical issues. Another custom of note is found in the Province of Quebec. Here, swearing a medical oath takes on political shadings as it is a prerequisite for obtaining a licence to practise.

In 1989 I surveyed the use of medical oaths at 126 . . . [Full text of this article]


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