At Least its not a Hypocritic Oath

My brother-in-law sent me an e-mail about the current state of the Hippocratic Oath.

I'm just going to cut and paste it below rather than bothering to paraphrase it for mere originality's sake:

I was watching a NOVA recently about becoming a medical doctor (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/doctors/oath.html)

... and I thought you would be interested in a bit of the discussion regarding the Hippocratic Oath.  The program mentioned that medical schools have had to "modify" the original oath...

"even as the modern oath's use has burgeoned, its content has tacked away from the classical oath's basic tenets. According to a 1993* survey of 150 U.S. and Canadian medical schools, for example, only 14 percent of modern oaths prohibit euthanasia, 11 percent hold convenant with a deity, 8 percent foreswear abortion, and a mere 3 percent forbid sexual contact with patients—all maxims held sacred in the classical version"

Here is a link to the original : http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/doctors/oath_classical.html

One line that is missing from all modern versions:

"I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy. In purity and holiness I will guard my life and my art."

Comments

[Matt]

Heaven forbid that they violate their code of ethics as they dismember the unborn. Surely the best option is to change the code of ethics! That will make everything OK--somehow!