Do we need the Hippocratic oath?

rampe.k@gmail.com

The tradition of making an ethical and professional declaration on graduation from medical school is currently a popular one. Through a formal statement, the newly qualified doctor makes a commitment to behave in a professional and ethical manner, to consider the wellbeing of their patients, and above all, to work to improve their patients’ health. Oath taking now takes place in half of UK medical schools, in nearly all US schools, and in about half of schools in Australia.12

The custom of physicians taking an oath to uphold an ethical code is old and widespread: the oath of the Hindu physician (1400s BC); “Advice to a physician” (Persia, 900s); and the 17 rules of Enjuin (Japan, 1500s) are just three examples.3 In the West the best known is the Hippocratic oath (box 1), composed around 410 BC and the inspiration or foundation for most of the oaths used today, including the World Medical Association’s Geneva Declaration, originally formulated by the association in 1948 for the specific purpose of setting ethical guidelines for newly qualified doctors (box 2).34 There are a wide variety of oaths used within and between countries, and many faculties or graduating classes choose to compose their own, generally based on one of the older oaths but uniquely tailored to their ideals.56