Over in the pit, Zhen’ka alluded, well actually printed the Pharmacist’s Oath[didn’t realize they had one] It brought to mind the Hippocratic Oath. How binding is the oath? Does it have any legal ramifications? A physician, if memory serves, foreswears to give pessaries, i.e. abortifacients, and to not become involved sexually with patients. Two little items that have fallen by the wayside over the decades. After all, a physician claims, “I swear by Asculapius, the Physician”, a mythological entity. Of course, in a court of law we swear to… but that’s another topic entirely. Is there any thing a physician affirms, by word or in writing, that is analagous to the Hippocratic Oath, that IS legally binding? Or is the oath just a holdover from a simpler time? How long have physicians been swearing to it? Since Hippocrates himself?
It’s not legally binding, and I’m told that most medical schools no longer have the students recite it.
Wendell’s right about it not being used anymore. My brother graduated last year and they recited the Declaration of Geneva. It’s updated and does away with anachronisms like referring to surgery as being put under the stone.