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Hippocratic OATH
I swear by Apollo Physician and Asclepius and Hygieia and Panaceia and
all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will
fulfill
according to ability and judgment this oath and' this covenant:
To hold him who has taught me this art as equal to my parents and to
live my life in partnership with him, and if he is in need of money to
give him a share of mine, and to regard his offspring as equal to my
brothers in male lineage and to teach them this art---if they desire to
learn it---without fee and covenant; to give a share of precepts and
oral instruction and all the other learning to my sons and to the sons
of him who has instructed me and to pupils who have signed the covenant
and have taken an oath according to the medical law, but to no one else.
I will apply dietetic measures for the benefit of the sick according to
my ability and judgment; I will keep them from harm and injustice.
I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I
make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give to a woman
an abortive remedy. In purity and holiness I will guard my life and my
art.
I will not use the knife, not even on sufferers from stone, but will
withdraw in favor of such men as are engaged in this work.
Whatever houses I may visit, I will come for 'the benefit of the sick,
remaining free of all intentional injustice, of all mischief and in
particular of sexual relations with both female and male persons, be
they free or slaves.
What I may see or hear in the course of the treatment or even out-side
of the treatment in regard to the life of men, which on no account one
must spread-abroad, I will keep-to- myself holding such things-shameful to be spoken about.
If I fulfill this oath and do not violate it, may it be granted to me,
to enjoy life and art, being honored with fame among all men for all
time to come; if I transgress it and swear falsely, may the opposite of
all this be my lot.
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