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The Hippocratic Oath - Meaning and Origin
contents
- Hippocrates
- The Hippocratic Oath
- Content of the oath
- Delimitation of one's own area of competence
- Medical confidentiality
- The Geneva vow
- Wording of the declaration
Hippocrates
The Greek Hippocrates is considered the founder of medicine as a science. He did not see any action of the gods in (most) diseases, but taught the empirical method, which develops a systematics from observations of disease symptoms.
Hippocrates is considered the founder of medicine as a science. (Image: markara / fotolia.com) The Hippocratic Oath
The oath of Hippocrates has long been considered an ethical obligation of the physician, and until well into modern times, doctors swore by not violating an ethic that is committed to healing. However, this oath probably comes not from the ancient Greeks themselves.
As with many greats of history, Mohammed, Charlemagne, or Robin Hood, posterity wrote that Hippocrates's deeds and words reflect the worldviews and developments of a society.
The "oath of Hippocrates" probably shows the guidelines of the Greek doctors and not the confession of a single man.
Content of the oath
He begins by saying: "I swear by Apollon the doctor, by Asclepius, Hygieia, and Panakeia, and by all the gods and goddesses, by making them bear witness, that according to my power and judgment, I will fulfill the following oath and treaty . "
This "swearing by the gods" was similar to the Christian "oath of God", so went well beyond a mere commitment.
He goes on to say: "To those who have taught me this art, to pay equal respect to my parents, to share in my livelihood, and to share in the things that are required of them, if he needs them, his progeny to my male siblings to give them equal value, to teach them this art, if they wish to learn it, to give without pay and contract, to instruction, lectures, and to the rest of the teaching, to my sons and to the sons of him who taught me the contractually bound and by doctor's custom oath-bound students, but no one else. "
Students no longer swear this oath. That's a good thing. Because, the wording committed, they would have to give their life a part of their salary to their professors, whose children train as doctors for free and should also not pass on medical knowledge publicly.
The oath of Hippocrates was replaced in 1948 by the Geneva medical vow. (Image: WavebreakmediaMicro / fotolia.com) The next sentence corresponds to a physician who is committed to the well-being of the patient: "I will use dietetic measures for the benefit of the patient according to my strength and my judgment; I will protect them from harm and injustice. "
However, the following paragraph does not lend itself to a modern understanding of medicine: "Nor will I give anyone a mortifying remedy at his request, nor will I give such advice; In the same way I will not give any woman a fruit-abiding suppository. Pure and holy, I will preserve my life and my art. "
Active euthanasia is not allowed in Germany today, but humanist organizations are calling for this allowance to suicide. However, Hippocrates does not even allow a doctor to advise a human how to divorce his life on his own.
The pledge not to provide any means to abort the fruit would be enjoyed by Christian anti-abortion opponents. This lack of help in abortion has nothing to do with the woman's right to self-determination in modern thinking. The sentence is so general that he would have to include abortion after a rape.
Delimitation of one's own area of competence
Furthermore, the doctor is committed to his area of expertise: "I will not apply the cutting, not even for stone sufferers, this I will rather leave it to the men who perform this activity."
Today, this would mean that a doctor is not allowed to operate. In Hippocrates time it was self-protection. Doctors in Greece did not have the reputation they enjoy today, and even simple operations were associated with risks. Risk-free today is not a single operation on the human body.
If the wound became infected or the symptoms increased, the doctor was in danger of being banished from the city. Leaving this work to the "cuties" was probably used to pull the head out of the noose.
Then again, the oath formulates a behavior that should be self-evident to a doctor today: "In all the houses I enter, I will stand up for the benefit of the sick, free from any deliberate injustice, from other ruinous acts and sexual acts female and male persons, both free and slaves. "
The commandment not to sexually abuse patients is still essential for medical practice - for physicians who are physically challenged, as well as for therapists who find it easy to sexually exploit psychologically addicted people.
Medical confidentiality
At the end of the sentence, which is also legally binding for doctors in Germany, namely the medical confidentiality: "Whatever I see or hear in the treatment or regardless of the treatment in people's lives, I will, as far as it is never may be spread out, conceal, in the belief that such things are unpronounceable. "
However, this silence in Hippocrates time is not detached from the obligation to the teacher and his children. It is less about the privacy of the patients, but about the secret knowledge of the doctor, which he passes on only to his students, so that it is reserved for the selected circle.
The oath ends with the words: "If I fulfill this oath and do not violate it, may I be granted that I enjoy my life and my art, respected by all men for all time, but if I transgress it and become perverse 'May the opposite happen.'
Among other things, doctors promise that they will practice their profession with conscientiousness and dignity within the framework of the Geneva Accolade. (Image: Catalin Pop / fotolia.com) The Geneva vow
Today, the oath of Hippocrates is no longer decisive for physicians in Germany, but the Declaration of Geneva. It was adopted in 1948 on the medical world association and is considered a direct consequence of the Third Reich.
The doctors of the Nazis had broken all human rights a million times: they had brought people with disabilities to the murder, by means of "racial examinations" people in Eastern Europe of extermination, they conducted inhumane attempts on prisoners in concentration camps.
Much like the UN Convention on Genocide Prevention was a consequence of the millionfold Nazi genocide, the Geneva Declaration struck a cornerstone of medical ethics after doctors destroyed ethics.
Wording of the declaration
1) I solemnly commit myself to dedicating my life to the service of humanity.
2) I want to show my teachers the respect and gratitude to which they are entitled.
3) I want to practice my job with conscientiousness and dignity.
4) The health of my sick person should be my supreme consideration.
5) I want to respect the secrets entrusted to me, even after his death.
6) With all means in my power I want to uphold the honor and the noble tradition of the medical profession.
7) My colleagues should be my brothers.
8) I do not want to allow considerations of religion, nationality, race, party politics, or social status to come between my duties and my patients.
9) I want to preserve human life with the highest reverence from the time of conception.
10) Even under threat, I do not want to use my medical knowledge against the laws of humanity.
The Geneva vow quoted in some points the Hippocratic oath, namely the secrecy, the welfare of the patient and the inviolability of human life.
The "reverence" from the point of conception, however, is so vague that it does not prohibit abortion in principle and, above all, allows contraception.
The obligation to humanity, even under threat, and the absolute priority of the relationship between doctor and patient to religion, origin or party, can be understood as a direct line to the medicine of the fascists. They mean that the doctor must remain true to his humanity even under the worst political conditions. (Dr. Utz Anhalt)
Specialist supervision: Barbara Schindewolf-Lensch (doctor)