The Hippocratic Oath

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A 56 year old, divorced, female patient lives with her 20 year old daughter. She was a well and very active math teacher. She started to complain of generalized pain, weight loss, severe headaches, and multiple seizure episodes. She was diagnosed as having a stage IV metastasis brain tumor. She received two cycles of chemotherapy, but refused radiotherapy. She soon developed hypoxic damage to her brain cells which left her paralyzed and blind. She has been lying in her bed depressed with no contact with the outside world. She is religiously cared for in every way by her daughter. She is suffering from intolerable pain and asks her doctor to allow her to die in peace. In the presence of her daughter, she signed an agreement consent form giving …show more content…

It is one of the oldest binding documents in history. Its principles are held sacred by doctors to this day. They promise to treat the sick to the best of one's ability, preserve patient privacy, and teach the secrets of medicine to the next generation, and so on (Tyson, P, 2001). The problem with the original version of the Oath is that it conflicts with the relationship that doctors have with their patients. The original version of the Oath says “that doctors cannot use euthanasia as well as be involved in performing abortions.” It also stated “I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect” (Hippocratic, 2010). Statements of this type have drastically changed in the new version of the Oath. Today, most graduating medical school students swear to some form of the oath, usually a modernized version. In the new version the oath shows the extended freedoms given to the patient as well as the responsibility granted to the doctor allowing them the ability to participate in forms of euthanasia. As a result of the Oath changes, doctors are not violating the oath by participating in euthanasia (Hippocratic,

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