The Hippocratic Oath: source of medical ethics

The Hippocratic Oath is twenty-five centuries old. Probably drawn-up by Hippocrates himself, it intervenes in a particular cultural, political and religious context: that of Greece at the time of Pericles. It guaranteed the Asclepiad doctors of the continuity of their knowledge within their community. Medicine was highly esteemed because of it. The Oath, more than any other work of the Hippocratic collection, has outlived the centuries. It still remains one of the symbols of the medical profession. Despite its age, it provides insight into some of the questions of medical ethics even today. Its topicality is, without doubt, due to the transcendent nature of the values it proclaimed.