Hippocratic Oath....?

ToraToraTora | 11:36 Sat 21st Jun 2025 | How it Works

29 Answers

How willl doctors assisting in the euthanasia of their patients square that with the hippocratic oath they have taken?

Can Someone Explain Blue Tooth To Me Please.

Hot Water Boilers

Answers

1 to 20 of 29

1 2 Next Last

Best Answer

No best answer has yet been selected by ToraToraTora. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.

For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.

naomi24

//While the Hippocratic Oath is not a legal requirement for UK doctors, many medical schools include it, or a modern version of it, as part of their graduation ceremonies. It's seen as a way to instill professional values and acknowledge the responsibilities of the medical profession. However, the primary professional code for UK doctors is the General Medical Council's (GMC) "Good Medical Practice". //

barry1010

They don't take the Hippocratic Oath. They declare they've read the Good Medical Practice when they register with the GMC.

That includes putting patients first, involving them in decisions, respecting their dignity, and communicating clearly and compassionately.

ToraToraTora

Question Author

11:44 what is the point of that naomi? OIt's common knowledge that the HO is a professional standard not a legal one. I'm asking about how a profession will deal with going against it's own fundemental priciples. It'd be like a goalkeeper delibrately letting one in.

barry1010

I don't see a clash in this instance. If the patient is terminally ill with less than six months to live and wants to end life, with dignity and without pain, the doctor agreeing is treating the patient with respect and listening

davebro3

same way they have done for years I guess (unofficially)

ToraToraTora

Question Author

11:59 perhaps but now they have no plausible deniability.

DDIL

I know my dad wishes this would have been an option for him!

barry1010

Which principles of the HO do you think the bill goes against?

naomi24

//what is the point of that naomi? ....I'm asking about how a profession will deal with going against it's own fundemental priciples. //

The point is what you assume to be the profession's fundamental principles - aren't.

ToraToraTora

Question Author

barry: "Which principles of the HO do you think the bill goes against?" - err are you being deliberately obtuse?

The bit which says always do beneficence never maleficence. I think deliberately killing your patient is sort of maleficent wouldn't you say?

ToraToraTora

Question Author

naomi: "The point is what you assume to be the profession's fundamental principles - aren't." - so they don't adhere to the hippocratic principles then? Roght oh! You may have surprised a few doctors there.

bhg481

The Good Medical Practice includes putting patients first, involving them in decisions, respecting their dignity, and communicating clearly and compassionately.

That, some would argue, could allow them to help a patient end their life if everybody involved agreed that was best for the patient.

naomi24

//I think deliberately killing your patient is sort of maleficent wouldn't you say? //

I wouldn't say that. I think good doctors do whatever is in their patients' best interests - and have done so for years.

ToraToraTora

Question Author

12:16 well that is the point of this post. To try and understand how euthanasia can fit in with the priciples of the medical profession.

naomi24

Define what you think are the principles of the medical profression.

bhg481

I sometimes think we put too high a value on "life". When I was a boy back in the 1950s a couple who lived nearby had girl twins, about the same age as me. One girl was deaf and dumb, mentally poor and physically disabled. The other twin wasn't so lucky; she was still in a pram (not a pushchair because she couldn't sit up) into her teens and wasn't capable of anything. I wouldn't suggest ending their lives but maybe they shouldn't have been helped at birth. A former work colleague was married to a midwife who said that in those days it was common practice with "very poorly" babies to "leave them on a windowsill" in the hope that nature would take its course.