# Physicians: about the Hippocratic Oath **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 15, 2008, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/physicians-about-the-hippocratic-oath/477283 "2008-12-15T20:17:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/physicians-about-the-hippocratic-oath/477283/1 "2008-12-15T20:17:07Z")
> **[I love the smell of Karma in the morning](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=497511)** > > Not wanting to bring a Zombie to life, I would like to update you on the dickhead doctor that put two bicyclists in the hospital with his car back in August. Original thread here. Well he had his preliminary hearing the other day. But wait there... In the above Pit thread a doctor who allegedly tried to hurt bycyclists with his car, is being trashed as violating the Hippocratic Oath to “do no harm” My question is, **is taking the Oath a requirement** for physicians? If so, how is it modified for present day usage? I mean, I don’t think contemporary doctors are going to swear by the names of the old Greek gods, or agree to teach for free the students of their own teachers. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/physicians-about-the-hippocratic-oath/477283/2 "2008-12-15T20:40:21Z")
The hippocratic oath did get [modernized over the centuries](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocratic_Oath). However, the oath is not legally binding in any way, and is not mandatory either. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/physicians-about-the-hippocratic-oath/477283/3 "2008-12-15T20:56:43Z")
Thank you\*\* Kobal2\*\*. That’s a pretty interesting article. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/physicians-about-the-hippocratic-oath/477283/4 "2008-12-15T22:02:37Z")
As noted, there’s no legal significance to the Oath, and many graduating physicians don’t subscribe to it (at my school we used one of the alternate versions of a creed/good intentions). Though there’s something cool about swearing to Apollo, Aesculapius et al.\* As the linked text indicates, the original Hippocratic Oath was all about ethical considerations arising in connection with one’s craft, and not about avoiding criminal acts that have nothing to do with being a physician. For example, Hippocrates did not find it necessary to point out that one should not embezzle, set arson fires, commit murder or suddenly stop one’s horse-drawn cart in such a way as to harm pedestrians (I don’t think they had bicyclists in those days). \*I wonder how many schools stopped using the original Oath in part because there were objections to swearing to “pagan” gods. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/physicians-about-the-hippocratic-oath/477283/5 "2008-12-16T03:11:35Z")
Doesn’t the oath proscribe prescribing an abortifacient?