The Hippocratic Oath has come down to us in a variety of forms
from different sources over the centuries, and with different translations
from ancient languages. Like the Constitution of the United States,
parts of it are often extracted to support a view not supported by a
study of the wording. Before examining the oath it may be useful to
examine the wording of article II of the original amendments to the
US constitution: ``A well regulated militia being necessary to a secure
State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be
infringed''. There is no confusion in this wording. The first clause
cannot be ignored. The right to bear arms is clearly contingent on their
need for
use in a state militia, (now called the ``national guard')'. One rarely
sees criminals wearing national guard uniforms being arrested by the
police, and the National Rifle Association has apparently not chosen to
understand the conditional statement.
Most of the Hippocratic Oath is not quoted. Its first sections are perhaps the most instructive part of the oath, demonstrating a remarkable property of human nature, a plea for self preservation that the American Medical Association preserves to this day.
The oath states that it is the duty of a physician to treat the physician who taught him his trade as if he were a parent, to share his wealth with him and to provide for his necessities, to look after his children as if they were his own, and to teach them the art of medicine if they wish to learn it. And this will be done without any fee or stipulation. Pre-med students might find this particularly interesting.
The part that the American Medical Association does quote to support its position on abortion states: `` I will not give a woman a pessary to produce abortion''. Webster's unabridged dictionary explains that a pessary is an object placed in a vagina for several reasons: to support the uterus or remedy a malposition. Such an object or ``bolus'' (a rounded mass) can serve to prevent insemination but it is not a device to produce an abortion. It may be a rather crude diaphram. So abortion in this context may mean to prevent a pregnancy not to kill a fetus.
Clearly requiring physicians to take physics may be less important than teaching them to read precisely. Perhaps young physicians should be required to take a year's residency with the Federal Drug Administration. There they will gain the ability to read with care the studies on the efficacy of drugs, so they learn to decide what drugs should be allowed for them to prescribe.