Canadian Registry
of Hippocratic Practitioners

Objectives

To provide a mechanism for identifying practitioners who practice or are preparing to practice Hippocratic medicine.
To bring together practitioners who have an ethical consensus
To enable practitioners to group together in order to have more influence and impact in their practices, their hospitals, and their communities.
To impact the democratic process provincially and nationally by proactively confronting the secularization of health care policy in Canada.
To provide a way for supporting individual practitioners, practitioner groups, institutions and organizations as they confront issues of practice contrary to the Hippocratic tradition.

History

Hippocrates was a 400BC physician in Greece who objected to the medical culture of his day, in which abortion and euthanasia were commonplace. Resolving to purify the practice of medicine, he wrote his oath which affirms the sacredness of life and the doctor's duty to protect it.

Anne-Louis Girodet (de Roucy-Trioson) (1767-1824)
Raphael Urbain Massard (engraver)
Hippocrates Refusing Gift from Alexander
20.5 x 25.5 inches, sheet (Paris: 1816)
18 x 23.5 inches, image
www.georgeglazer.com

Essential elements of the Hippocratic Oath

Transcendence - the recognition of the need for a power over and above mankind.
Teaching within a moral ethos - because medicine is a moral activity, the ethos of teaching is important.
Sanctity of life - theistic understandings of life naturally lead to a higher view of the value of human life.
Trust - a commitment to confidentiality enhances trust between practitioner and patient.
Collegiality - attempts to pressure practitioners to act against their consciences results in a decay of collegiality and demoralization of individuals.
Practitioner Integrity - when purity of motive and beneficence guide practice, one is respected in society.

The Hippocratic Oath

I swear by Apollo, Physician and Aesclepius, Hygeia and Panacea and all the gods and goddesses, making them my witness, that I will fulfill according to my ability and judgement, this oath and this covenant:

To hold him who has taught me this art as equal to my parents and to live in partnership to 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 brother in male lineage and to teach them this art - if they deserve 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 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 judgement; 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 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 from sufferers from stone, but will withdraw in favour of such men as are engaged in this work.

Whatever house I 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.

Whatever I may see or hear in the course of the treatment or even outside 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 honoured 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.

Restatement of the Oath of Hippocrates

I swear in the presence of the Almighty and before my family, my teachers, and my peers that according to my ability and judgement, I will keep the Oath and Stipulation:

To reckon all who have taught me this art equally dear to me as my parents and in the same spirit and dedication to impart a knowledge of the art of medicine to others. I will continue with diligence to keep abreast of advances in medicine. I will treat without exception all who seek my ministrations, so long as the treatment of others is not compromised thereby, and I will seek the counsel of particularly skilled physicians where indicated for the benefit of my patient.

I will follow that method of treatment which according to my ability and judgement I consider for the benefit of my patient and abstain from whatever is harmful or mischievous. I will neither prescribe nor administer a lethal dose of medicine to my patient even if asked, nor counsel any such thing, nor perform act or omission with direct intent deliberately to end a human life. I will maintain the utmost respect for every human life from fertilization to natural death and reject abortion that deliberately takes a unique human life.

With purity, holiness and beneficence I will pass my life and practice my art. Except for the prudent correction of an imminent danger, I will neither treat any patient nor carry out any research on any human being without the valid informed consent of the subject or the appropriate legal protector thereof, understanding that research must have as its purpose the furtherance of the health of that individual. Into whatever patient setting I enter, I will go for the benefit of the sick and will abstain from every voluntary act of mischief or corruption and further from the seduction of any patient.

Whatever in connection with my professional practice or not in connection with it I may see or hear in the lives of my patients which ought not to be spoken abroad I will not divulge, reckoning that all such should be kept secret.

While I continue to keep this Oath unviolated may it be granted to me to enjoy life and the practice of the art and science of medicine with the blessing of the Almighty and respected by my peers and society, but should I trespass and violate this Oath, may the reverse be my lot.

Membership of the Canadian Registry of Hippocratic Practitioners

By becoming a member of the registry, you are committing to the Hippocratic principles as the basis of your practice. You are not asked to swear an Oath but to pray that the Almighty will help you fulfill your commitments.

Membership and a lapel pin and certificate for your office are available through:

John and Sally Patrick,
7742 County Road 21,
Spencerville, ON K0E 1X0