The
Hippocratic Oath is one of the oldest binding documents
in history.
Written in antiquity, its principles are held sacred
by doctors to this day:
treat the sick to the best of one's ability, preserve
patient privacy,
teach the secrets of medicine to the next generation,
and so on.
I swear by Apollo Physician and Asclepius
and Hygieia and Panaceia and all the gods and goddesses,
making them my witnesses, that I will fulfil according
to my ability and judgment this oath and this covenant:
To hold him who has taught me this
art as equal to my parents and to live my life in
partnership with him, and if he is in need of money
to give him a share of mine, and to regard his offspring
as equal to my brothers in male lineage and to teach
them this art - if they desire to learn it - without
fee and covenant; to give a share of precepts and
oral instruction and all the other learning to my
sons and to the sons of him who has instructed me
and to pupils who have signed the covenant and have
taken an oath according to the medical law, but
no one else.
I will apply dietetic measures for
the benefit of the sick according to my ability
and judgment; I will keep them from harm and injustice.
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.
I will not use the knife, not even
on sufferers from stone, but will withdraw in favor
of such men as are engaged in this work.
Whatever houses I may visit, I will
come for the benefit of the sick, remaining free
of all intentional injustice, of all mischief and
in particular of sexual relations with both female
and male persons, be they free or slaves.
What I may see or hear in the course
of the treatment or even outside of the treatment
in regard to the life of men, which on no account
one must spread abroad, I will keep to myself, holding
such things shameful to be spoken about.
If I fulfil this oath and do not violate
it, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and art,
being honored with fame among all men for all time
to come; if I transgress it and swear falsely, may
the opposite of all this be my lot.
Translation from the Greek by Ludwig Edelstein.
From The Hippocratic Oath: Text, Translation, and
Interpretation, by Ludwig Edelstein. Baltimore:
Johns Hopkins Press, 1943.
Note that the classic
Hippocratice Oath is sworn "by Apollo the physician,
by Aesculapius, Hygeia, and Panacea, ....."Meditrine,
Hygeia and Panacea: The children of Asclepius included
his daughters Meditrina, Hygeia and Panacea who
were symbols of medicine, hygiene and healing (literally,
"all healing") respectively.
Staff
of Aesculapius
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The staff as a Medical symbol:
From the early 16th century onwards, the staff of
Asclepius and the caduceus of Hermes were widely
used as printers’ marks especially as frontispieces
to pharmacopoeias in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Over time the rod and serpent (the Asclepian staff)
emerged as an independent symbol of medicine.
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