Hippocrates' scientific views and principles regarding medical ethics, have been gathered by scholars into a collection of seventy-odd books known as the "Hippocratic Collection" or "Hippocratic Corpus".
The best-known as well as the most widely discussed paper in the Hippocratic Collection is the Hippocratic Oath. Many distinguished scholars think of this short text as a complete code of medical ethics. They describe it as a "landmark in the ethics of medicine", "a work of art", "a masterpiece", "a diamond", and so on. For many centuries, the Oath was the prime code of medical ethics and doctors from all over the world took it during their graduation from various medical schools.
The stated ethical principles have never lost their value:
I will hold my teacher equal to my own father
I will use treatment to help the sick
I will keep pure and holy both my life and my art
I will abstain from abusing the bodies of the sick
I will respect the secrets of the patients and their families.
The Hippocratic Oath
1. I swear by Apollo Physician, by Asclepius, by Hygeia and Panacea and by all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will carry out, according to my ability and judgement, this oath and this indenture.
2. To hold my teacher in this art equal to my own parents; to make him partner in my livelihood; when he is in need of money to share mine with him; to consider his family as my own brothers, and to teach them this art, if they want to learn it, without fee or indenture. To impart instruction written, oral and practical, to my own sons, the sons of my teacher, and to indentured pupils who have taken the physician's oath, but to nobody else.
3. I will use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgement, but never with a view to injury and wrongdoing.
4. Neither will I administer a poison to anybody when asked to do so, nor will I suggest such a course. Similary, I will not give to a woman a pessary to cause abortion,
5. But I will keep pure and holy both my life and my art.
6. I will not use the knife, not even, verily, on sufferers from stone, but I will give place to such as are craftsmen therein.
7. Into whatsoever house I enter, I will enter to help the sick, and I will abstain from all intentional wrongdoing and harm, especially from abusing the bodies of man or woman, bond or free.
8. And whatsoever I shall see or hear in the course of my profession, as well as outside my profession in my intercourse with men, if it be what should not be published abroad, I will never divulge, holding such things to be holy secrets.
9. Now, if I carry out this oath, and break it not, may I gain forever reputation among all men for my life and for my art; but if I transgress it and forswear myself, may the opposite befall me.
Today, the Oath of Hippocrates is considered one of the oldest binding documents in history. It is still held sacred among physicians and is taken by most medical students, from all over the world, during their graduating ceremonies. The Oath is recited in order to honour the Father of Medicine. And it is appreciated in its real historical dimensions. It is not tampered with, just as any work of art is not being tampered with.
Of course, the relationship between physicians, their patients and society as a whole has undergone significant changes in recent times. Hence, the oath should not be taken as-is, but as a general guideline of ethical principles that should apply to the practice of medicine. Several modernised versions exist, with one of the most significant revisions being the one drafted in 1948 by the World Medical Association (WMA), called the Declaration of Geneva. Later, the oath was rewritten in 1964 by Louis Lasagna, Academic Dean of the School of Medicine at Tufts University. That version has been widely accepted and is still in use today by many US medical schools.
Such is the significance of the oath that not only did it survive for over 25 centuries, but an adaptation of the oath, called Hippocratic Oath for scientists, is also being discussed. In his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995, Sir Joseph Rotblat has suggested that an oath would help make new scientists aware of their social and moral responsibility.
The re-enactment of Hippocrates' oath takes place in front of the ruins of the altar of Asclepius. The ceremonial procession, with a slow step made by the pipers, proceeds towards the ruins of the temple of Apollo to later on disappear into the sacred grove.
