One of the young doctors within UKMFA (The United Kingdom Medical Freedom) group told me that when she had trained at Nottingham medical school, they had not made the oath. I'm not sure if this was just her medical school or 'forgetting the basics' is now widespread across the UK.
In The US they still take the oath seriously as can be seen in these key videos below.
YALE MEDICAL STUDENTS
HARVARD MEDICAL STUDENTS
THE HIPPOCRATIC OATH
What is the Hippocratic Oath?
The Hippocratic Oath is attributed to the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, who is commonly believed to be its author, even though its exact origins are unclear. It is possible that it was penned by one of his disciples or by a group of individuals. Serving as a longstanding code of conduct, the oath serves as a significant standard for healthcare practitioners embarking on or concluding their training. Through pledging to uphold the values outlined in the oath, healthcare professionals commit to acting with integrity and ethics.
Those taking the "original" Hippocratic Oath promise to:
respect and support their teachers
share medical knowledge with others who are interested
use their knowledge of medicine and diet to help patients
avoid harming patients, including providing no "deadly medicine" even if requested to do so
not provide a "remedy" that causes an abortion
seek help from other physicians (such as a surgeon) when necessary
avoid "mischief," "injustice," and "sexual relations" during visits to patients' homes
keep patient information confidential.
More modern revisions have avoided any mention of abortion and, as in a popular 1964 revision (by Dr. Louis Lasagna, a physician at Johns Hopkins University), treated euthanasia with more nuance:
"...it may…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."
In addition, Dr. Lasagna encouraged a holistic and preventive approach to care:
"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."
What's missing?
Today's doctors face a number of important ethical issues that are not included in the Hippocratic Oath. For example, it makes no mention of:
honoring patients' preferences
sharing medical information with patients
avoiding conflicts of interest, such as profiting by ordering unnecessary tests or treatments
protecting patients who enroll in research studies
treating all patients equally, regardless of ability to pay, social class, education, race, or suspicion of criminality
avoiding the practice of medicine while impaired (due to physical or psychological disease).
THE HIPPOCRATIC OATH
(The following is a modern version of the oath written in 1964 by Dr. Louis Lasagna, then a professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University and later ean of the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts University:)
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.
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