This Is Not Your Father’s Medical Oath
In his famous oath that many doctors still swear to, Hippocrates covered many of the basics of medical ethics: from “I will give no deadly medicine to any one if asked, nor suggest any such counsel” to “I will abstain from every voluntary act of mischief and corruption.” But the father of medicine, who practiced in the 5th century BC, didn’t have to deal with HMOs, worry about how to pay for fancy imaging technology or ponder the ethics of drug company-sponsored junkets to Hawaii.
For today’s doctors who do, two prominent medical journals last week published “Medical Professionalism in the New Millennium: a Physician Charter,” a new statement of tenets meant to galvanize doctors against what the authors view as troubling trends in modern medicine.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. Feb. 15, 2002 FOR THE RECORD
Los Angeles Times Friday February 15, 2002 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 A2 Desk 2 inches; 48 words Type of Material: Correction
Statement of principles--A story in the Health section about a statement of ethical principles published in the Annals of Internal Medicine journal incorrectly stated that the publication is affiliated with the American Medical Assn. It is a publication of the American College of Physicians and the American Society of Internal Medicine.
For the Record
Los Angeles Times Monday February 18, 2002 Home Edition Health Part S Page 3 View Desk 2 inches; 47 words Type of Material: Correction
Medical journal--A story in last week’s Health section about a statement of ethical principles published in the Annals of Internal Medicine incorrectly stated that the publication is affiliated with the American Medical Assn. It is a publication of the American College of Physicians and the American Society of Internal Medicine.
Among other things, physicians are urged to include patients in medical decisions; to avoid all conflicts of interest with drug companies and other commercial interests; to fight racial discrimination; and to advocate for the uninsured.
The declaration is meant as a challenge to doctors “to resist efforts to impose a corporate mentality on a profession of service to others,” writes Dr. Harold Sox, editor of the Annals of Internal Medicine, an American Medical Assn. journal that published the statement simultaneously with the Lancet, a British medical journal.
Benedict Carey
