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Italian doctors want to scrap ‘outdated’ Hippocratic Oath
The Times ^ | 12/11/07 | Richard Owen in Rome

Posted on 12/11/2007 8:20:31 PM PST by bruinbirdman

Senior medical figures in Italy are campaigning to scrap the Hippocratic Oath for doctors on the ground that the passages forbidding abortion and euthanasia are outdated.

Giorgio Iannetti, a professor of surgery at Rome University, said that the oath, which is read out by medical students when they graduate, must either be abolished or “radically modified”.

“There are passages which are no longer relevant to our times and which newly qualified doctors know in advance they will not be able to respect,” Professor Iannetti told a medical conference in Rome.

The oath, written by Hippocrates, the Greek father of medicine, in the 4th century BC, obliges doctors to heal the sick “according to my ability and judgment” and to “keep them from harm and injustice”. However, a new doctor also swears to “neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy.”

Abortion was legalised in Italy in 1978, a decision that was confirmed by referendum three years later, despite opposition from the Vatican. Euthanasia — also vehemently opposed by the Church — remains banned, but recent high-profile cases involving the terminally ill have provoked a debate on whether Italy should follow the example of the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland and legalise it.

Carlo Flamigni, a professor of gynaecology and obstetrics at Bologna University, said that he refused to take the Hippocratic Oath when he graduated in 1958. Fernando Aiuti, professor of immunology at Rome University, told Corriere della Sera that some of his students had told him they disagreed with it, “and they have a point”.

Giuseppe Remuzzi, professor of neurology at Bergamo University, noted that in Britain The Lancet had proposed an alternative version five years ago. The oath has already been modified in many Western medical schools.

However, Luigi Frati, head of surgery at Rome University, argued that the original oath “reminds new doctors of certain fundamental concepts . . . they feel they belong to a scientific community with a long tradition”. Mauro Moroni, professor of infectious diseases at Milan University, said that he gave his students the oath “written on parchment in the original Greek. Some values never change”.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: cultureofdeath; declineofthewest; euthanasia; mengele; moralabsolutes; prolife

1 posted on 12/11/2007 8:20:34 PM PST by bruinbirdman
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To: bruinbirdman
Of course!
“First do no harm” get’s in the way of abortion and euthanasia. Murder is a great cost saving measure in the face of socialized medicine.
2 posted on 12/11/2007 8:23:11 PM PST by G Larry (HILLARY CARE = DYING IN LINE!)
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To: bruinbirdman

They can change it to the Hypocratic Oath.


3 posted on 12/11/2007 8:24:11 PM PST by chaos_5 (Fred & Hunter '08)
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To: chaos_5

Or the Hypocritic Oath


4 posted on 12/11/2007 8:25:16 PM PST by HeartlandOfAmerica (The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.)
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To: bruinbirdman

Stupid. I wonder how the Pope feels about that?


5 posted on 12/11/2007 8:26:41 PM PST by freekitty ((May the eagles long fly our beautiful and free American sky.))
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To: bruinbirdman
Italy?

Ironic that the cradle of Western civilization now seems intent on becoming its tomb.

6 posted on 12/11/2007 8:26:45 PM PST by TonyRo76 (American by birth. Patriot by choice. Christian by grace.)
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To: bruinbirdman

doctors have changed in the last decades and

the hyppocratic oath no longer belongs to them.


7 posted on 12/11/2007 8:27:11 PM PST by ken21 ( people die + you never hear from them again.)
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To: HeartlandOfAmerica

LOL, that too!


8 posted on 12/11/2007 8:29:03 PM PST by chaos_5 (Fred & Hunter '08)
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To: bruinbirdman

Might work in Italy; before they ‘revise’ the Hippocratic Oath in the United States to allow them to euthanize my wife or one of my sisters, they had better eliminate all of the loose guns laying around everywhere (otherwise the doctors might be the ones getting euthanized)...


9 posted on 12/11/2007 8:29:24 PM PST by Friend_from_the_Frozen_North (If you are, as Rush would say, "A Glittering Jewel of Colossal Ignorance" don't waste my time...)
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To: bruinbirdman

Related thread:

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) “requests that pro-life doctors move their practices closer to abortion businesses so women can have a shorter drive to get an abortion when their physicians refuse to perform or refer for one.”

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1938140/posts


10 posted on 12/11/2007 8:30:03 PM PST by LibFreeOrDie (L'Chaim!)
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To: HeartlandOfAmerica

Make way for Universal Health Care and no malpractice suits. It will be something like ... “I can do no wrong and no one can say I did. I will practice and prescribe medicine based on a patients ability to pay or the way I feel on a given day.”


11 posted on 12/11/2007 8:32:21 PM PST by K-oneTexas (I'm not a judge and there ain't enough of me to be a jury. (Zell Miller, A National Party No More))
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To: bruinbirdman

It was outdated with respect to European values a while back, too. I read about it in history class. They never did catch all those guys.


12 posted on 12/11/2007 8:32:41 PM PST by InMemoriam (If Hillary is elected President, Sarkozy will be the leader of the free world.)
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To: bruinbirdman

Abortionist gave up their oath decades ago.


13 posted on 12/11/2007 8:40:27 PM PST by doc1019 (Fred Thompson '08)
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To: All

I cant help but think of
Terri Shivo (forgive the spelling)
I remember when the judge said “ok” to pulling the plug.
My first thought was “government should not be in charge of determining life,death and medical care. Such thinks should always be out of the realm of gov paper pushers and poli-tutes!”

I can see it now
aunt Jane doe is sick.
hospital says its terminal and want to pull da plug.
family protest
judge takes gov side
law enforcement is used to keep the family from stoping the court order.
Newspapers report david beckum almost scored a goal but got hurt again and is out for the season with a broken toenail.

imagin your health care being run by the lady at the DMV and nancy palosi...*cringe*


14 posted on 12/11/2007 8:41:33 PM PST by Casaubon (Internet Research Ninja Masta)
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To: bruinbirdman

That’s another nail in Europe’s coffin.


15 posted on 12/11/2007 8:42:44 PM PST by neverdem (Call talk radio. We need a Constitutional Amendment for Congressional term limits. Let's Roll!)
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To: bruinbirdman

Ah yes, if doing the right thing is hard, lower your standards.


16 posted on 12/11/2007 8:43:10 PM PST by Vince Ferrer
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To: Casaubon

Not a pretty picture . . .


17 posted on 12/11/2007 8:45:03 PM PST by tomball
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To: K-oneTexas
"Make way for Universal Health Care and no malpractice suits. "

Maybe that Colorado governor guy, what's his name, "Lead the Lamb to Slaughter", can be Hillary's Surgeon General. He had an idea about how to keep health costs down. Didn't he?

yitbos

18 posted on 12/11/2007 8:46:57 PM PST by bruinbirdman ("Those who control language control minds.")
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To: bruinbirdman
Doctors of today are BLOODTHIRSTY!!!

Calling Dr. Dracula!!! Calling Dr. Dracula!!!

Clean up bloody mess left by abortion...

19 posted on 12/11/2007 8:50:54 PM PST by topher (Let us return to old-fashioned morality - morality that has stood the test of time...)
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To: bruinbirdman
Maybe that Colorado governor guy, what's his name, "Lead the Lamb to Slaughter", can be Hillary's Surgeon General. He had an idea about how to keep health costs down. Didn't he?

As I recall, it was something along the line of "You old farts have a duty to die."

20 posted on 12/11/2007 8:59:11 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (Repeal the Terrible Two -- the 16th and 17th Amendments! Sink LOST!)
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To: bruinbirdman
Italian doctors want to scrap ‘outdated’ Hippocratic Oath

Swearing by Apollo is outdated.

21 posted on 12/11/2007 9:11:36 PM PST by wideminded
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To: G Larry

“First do no harm” could be changed to, “First incur no liability.”


22 posted on 12/11/2007 9:17:48 PM PST by claudiustg (You know it. I know it.)
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To: claudiustg
They’d have to swear off killing babies if they adhered to the oath: can’t have that. There or here.
I do EVERYTHING possible to avoid contact with today’s medical profession. In an emergency and if pushed to the wall, I will only go Catholic hospitals, the last medical facilities in my area (Chicago) that refuse to kill unborn children. And if the Democrats win big next time, even that refuge will be lost. Democrat lawmakers—SCHAKOWSKY of Illinois for example—want to close any hospital that refuses to participate in the killing.
23 posted on 12/11/2007 9:34:30 PM PST by Godwin1
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To: bruinbirdman

***“neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy.” ****

This is how it reads on the wall of my former Dr’s office.

“...neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will I perform an illegal operation.”


24 posted on 12/11/2007 9:41:42 PM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar (Only infidel blood can quench Muslim thirst-- Abdul-Jalil Nazeer al-Karouri)
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To: bruinbirdman
First, kill the babies, the weak and the old people...

Then try your damndest to do no harm.

25 posted on 12/11/2007 9:43:11 PM PST by jwalsh07
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To: ken21
"doctors have changed in the last decades and the Hippocratic oath no longer belongs to them."

Well considering a lot of them are now Mohammedans, it is a conflict of interest. You know, do no harm vs. kill the infidel.

26 posted on 12/11/2007 11:24:28 PM PST by rawcatslyentist (Smithers hand me that icecream scoop. This isn't rocket science, it's brain surgery.)
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To: wagglebee

Moral Absolutes Ping!


27 posted on 12/11/2007 11:47:59 PM PST by Pinkbell (Duncan Hunter 2008 - Protecting and Restoring America)
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To: bruinbirdman

My mom said when she started protesting abortion in the 70s, that they said abortion would lead to euthanasia. She said when they told the liberals this, they just laughed. Of course, we are right. In the same way we’ll be right when we say legalization of homosexual marriage will lead to polygamy and group marriage.

The duty of the medical field was to preserve life, now it is to preserve some life and destroy life considered not worthy of living. I know there is a modern version of the Hippocratic Oath used today in medical schools which omits the oath to avoid abortion and euthanasia.


28 posted on 12/11/2007 11:58:58 PM PST by Pinkbell (Duncan Hunter 2008 - Protecting and Restoring America)
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To: 8mmMauser

Ping....


29 posted on 12/12/2007 12:08:21 AM PST by TheSarce
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To: rawcatslyentist
Silly Cat -- there's no conflict at all. Haven't you read your Koran? Killing infidels is a good thing!

((do I really need the /s tag?))

30 posted on 12/12/2007 12:34:09 AM PST by Tenniel2 (The Clinton era: jackboots, plane crashes, murders - and those were the good days. (Hat tip to Bray))
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To: G Larry
“First do no harm”

"First, do no harm" is not part of the Hippocratic Oath.

31 posted on 12/12/2007 4:16:59 AM PST by IronJack (=)
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To: bruinbirdman
There are passages which are no longer relevant to our times and which newly qualified doctors know in advance they will not be able to respect

Yeah, like that "sanctity of life" clause. I mean, what's up with THAT!!!!

32 posted on 12/12/2007 4:17:50 AM PST by IronJack (=)
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To: bruinbirdman; TheSarce
Pinged from Terri Dailies

8mm


33 posted on 12/12/2007 4:47:58 AM PST by 8mmMauser (Jezu ufam tobie...Jesus I trust in Thee)
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To: IronJack

I’m told that the Italian medical community is now using a medical ethics textbook by Dr. Viktor Brack. They wanted him to speak to their group but found that he was hanged in Nuremberg.


34 posted on 12/12/2007 4:51:26 AM PST by 17th Miss Regt
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To: IronJack

[”First, do no harm” is not part of the Hippocratic Oath.]

“keep them from harm and injustice”

That’s close enough for me!


35 posted on 12/12/2007 5:01:37 AM PST by G Larry (HILLARY CARE = DYING IN LINE!)
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To: Pinkbell; bruinbirdman; 230FMJ; 49th; 50mm; 69ConvertibleFirebird; Aleighanne; Alexander Rubin; ...
Moral Absolutes Ping!

Freepmail wagglebee or little jeremiah to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.

FreeRepublic moral absolutes keyword search
[ Add keyword moral absolutes to flag FR articles to this ping list ]


36 posted on 12/12/2007 5:05:22 AM PST by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: 8mmMauser; cgk; Coleus; cpforlife.org; narses

Pro-Life Ping


37 posted on 12/12/2007 5:06:13 AM PST by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: bruinbirdman

I thought we fought a war to end Fascism. It looks like another war we stopped way too soon.
If we can just make morality a living and changeable idea, kind of like how the Dims see our Constitution; social engineering will be so much simpler. Its hard to add a /sarc/ warning.


38 posted on 12/12/2007 5:08:37 AM PST by Steamburg (Your wallet speaks the only language most politicians understand.)
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To: G Larry

Alas, with the spread of Abortionism and Elder-killing in the US, we should rename it: The HYPOCRITICAL Oath!


39 posted on 12/12/2007 6:02:16 AM PST by 2harddrive (...House a TOTAL Loss.....)
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To: bruinbirdman
There are many physicians in the US who have never sworn the Hippocratic Oath. Around 30 years ago some US medical schools began using the Oath of Maimonides. Compare the two:

Oath of Maimonides


The eternal providence has appointed me to watch over the life and health of Thy creatures. May the love for my art actuate me at all time; may neither avarice nor miserliness, nor thirst for glory or for a great reputation engage my mind; for the enemies of truth and philanthropy could easily decieve me and make me forgetful of my lofty aim of doing good to Thy children.

May I never see in the patient anything but a fellow creature in pain.

Grant me the strength, time and opportunity always to correct what I have aquired, always to extendits domain; for knowledge is immense and the spirit of man can extend indefintely to enrich itself daily with new requirements.

Today he can discover his errors of yesterday and tomorrow he can obtain a new light on what he thinks himself sure of today. Oh, God, Thou has appointed me to watch over the life and death of Thy creatures; here am I ready for my vocation and now I turn unto my calling.

Hippocratic Oath -- Classical Version



I swear by Apollo Physician and Asclepius and Hygieia and Panaceia and all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will fulfil according to my 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 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 who 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 outside 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 fulfil 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.

The Hippocratic Oath has all those pesky prohibitions about abortion, euthanasia, surgery and sodomy.

40 posted on 12/12/2007 6:12:02 AM PST by CholeraJoe (Vote for Mike Huckabee or Chuck Norris will give you a wedgie!)
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To: CholeraJoe
"The Hippocratic Oath has all those pesky prohibitions about abortion, euthanasia, surgery and sodomy."

Not against surgery per se, but surgery by someone not qualified to do it ("I will withdraw in favor of such men as are engaged in this work.") And not only against sodomy, but aainst any sexual relations with a patient or a member of the patient's household, of either sex.

41 posted on 12/12/2007 6:58:27 AM PST by Mrs. Don-o (Point of clarification.)
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To: bruinbirdman

btt


42 posted on 12/12/2007 7:03:22 AM PST by Cacique (quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat ( Islamia Delenda Est ))
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To: bruinbirdman

OMG. We’re doomed.

I want to be able to trust a doctor to SAVE my life, not worry about whether or not he’s going to take it based on his convenience or pressure from the hospital cause there’s not enough beds, or I cost too much.


43 posted on 12/12/2007 7:26:29 AM PST by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: CholeraJoe

What a huge difference.

We’re doomed.


44 posted on 12/12/2007 7:32:16 AM PST by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: bruinbirdman

This Oath, like the Ten Commandments and the Constitution (without penumbrae), is one of the few things that are keeping us from the abyss. I don’t feel that I am a nut-case in viewing this sad pronouncement as yet another portent of Armageddon.


45 posted on 12/12/2007 7:49:47 AM PST by Dionysius (Jingoism is no vice.)
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To: bruinbirdman

Human life sacred? Nah, we must move with the times. Maybe that Hitler fellow was right after all — who’s to say that some life is not more valuable than others. /sarcasm


46 posted on 12/12/2007 11:15:39 AM PST by Unam Sanctam
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