“First, do no harm” is a fundamental principle, particularly in healthcare, meaning that the priority is to avoid causing injury to patients.
While it is a widely used aphorism derived from the Latin phrase “primum non nocere,” it is not an exact quote from the original Hippocratic Oath.
In medicine, it’s often balanced with the goal of maximizing benefits while minimizing potential harm, as some necessary treatments may cause initial harm.
The Hippocratic Oath has been eclipsed as a document of professional ethics by more extensive works, the first example in modern times was by Thomas Percival at Manchester Royal Infirmary(UK)[20] who published a code of ‘medical ethics’ in 1803. This was then adopted by other medical associations such as the American Medical Association’s Code of Medical Ethics (first adopted in 1847), and the British General Medical Council’s Good Medical Practice. These documents provide a comprehensive overview of the obligations and professional behaviour of a doctor to their patients and wider society. Doctors who violate these codes may be subjected to disciplinary proceedings, including the loss of their license to practice medicine. Nonetheless, the length of these documents has made their distillations into shorter oaths an attractive proposition. In light of this fact, several updates to the oath have been offered in modern times,[21][22] some facetious.[23]
In 1948, the World Medical Association (WMA) drafted a medical oath, called the Declaration of Geneva. “During the post World War II and immediately after its foundation, the WMA showed concern over the state of medical ethics in general and over the world. The WMA took up the responsibility for setting ethical guidelines for the world’s physicians. It noted that in those years the custom of medical schools to administer an oath to its doctors upon graduation or receiving a license to practice medicine had fallen into disuse or become a mere formality”.[24] In Nazi Germany, medical students did not take the Hippocratic Oath, although they knew the ethic of “nil nocere”—do no harm.[25][failed verification]
In the 1964, Louis Lasagna, Academic Dean of the School of Medicine at Tufts University, wrote a modern version of the Hippocratic Oath in which the prayer was omitted, that focused on “utmost respect for human life from its beginning”, making it a more secular obligation, not to be taken in the presence of any gods, but before only other people. This version is still in use today by many US medical schools:[26]
I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:
I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.
I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.
I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon’s knife or the chemist’s drug.
I will not be ashamed to say “I know not”, nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient’s recovery.
I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.
I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person’s family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.
I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.
I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.
If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.
Reference : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocratic_Oath