Hippocratic Oath

[MWG14]

Should the Hippocratic Oath be abolished?

[Sqad]

I thought it WAS abolished or rather not taken by newly qualified doctors.

I have never taken it.

[davebro]

Just googled it & it appears the majority of UK medical schools require or invite graduates to take some form of the oath.
I doubt any of them take it literally or particularly seriously.

[Buenchico]

As it's not binding in any legal way, per se, it does seem rather pointless that some medical institutions still use it.

I'm sure that many doctors who've taken it assist in aborting foetuses (whether by actually working in an abortion clinic, referring patients to abortion clinics or simply prescribing the 'morning after' pill).

Others might choose to work for Dignitas, or to point patients towards it or, far more commonly I suspect, simply to prescribe levels of morphine to end-of-life patients which, while nominally are solely for pain relief, they know are likely to hasten death to those who've said that they want to die as soon as possible.

Neither of those activities are consistent with the Hippocratic Oath (or, at least, the classical version of it) but they're still, no doubt, commonplace among doctors who've taken it.

[Buenchico]

This is probably what Davebro found online:
https://patient.info/doctor/ideals-and-the-hippocratic-oath

[david small]

Do no harm....well, there’s a misnomer for a start.

[MissTerious2]

Bit the same as marriage oaths really.