how will u relate Hippocrates' teachings to the practice of medicine today?

Question

Topic: History of medicine 5th century - Hippocrates.
relate it to the practice of medicine today

Answer 1

I am an MD. I have studied Hippocrates a little myself. Hippocrates is said to be the first modern physician, because he was the first to embrace science as the mainstay of medicine, and to discredit superstition and the supernatural, and to write down and publish his scientific findings in a medical literature that persists to this day. He was the first to describe many ailments in this literature, including congestive heart failure, diabetes, and leukemia, among others. But I think he is best known for his Hippocratic principles, which the Hippocratic oath embodies. He enumerated a physician's responsibilities as follows:
1)First and foremost, a physician must make an accurate diagnosis.
2)the physician must inform the patient and the family of the prognosis.
3)the physician must cure what is curable, and
4)he must palliate and ameliorate what is incurable,
5)he must alleviate pain and suffering to the greatest degree practical,
6)he must maintain absolute confidentiality of health related issues, regardless of the gravity of the knowledge,
7)he must never take sexual or other advantage of his privilged position,
8) and above all else, he must DO NO HARM.
These principles are no different today than when Hippocrates first espoused them, and I agree with all of them and I try my best to practice them in my daily practice of medicine, even now as we sit here in the early 21st century.
I hope this helps.

Answer 2

Hippocrates' principles are taught today as basics of medical practice without refrence to Hippocrates, himself. His writings on anatomy and therapeutics have no application today. The Hippocratic Oath is what is struggling to remain of his legacy. That is because, starting with California and now in place in other states - Good Samaritan Laws do not apply to physicians. Do you understand what that means? A well meaning physician who is mindful of the Hippocratic Oath to treat the medically aflicted, without regard to personal gain must now go.......Hmmmmmmmmmm..... Do I want to treat this person, about whom I have no current medical status or past medical history with no possibility of getting paid and a strong possibility of getting sued & losing everything I've got? Physicians who have been in practice for any significant length of time, (especially in the big cities have agreed that the answer is not no; it's Hell no!). Physicians used to have liscence plates that began with MD. In addition to the status aspect of doing this; the police could pull physicians over to help in emergencies. You don't see those plates anymore, do you?......Most of Hippocrates' principles are so axiomatic in medicine today, (like, "Primum Non Nocari" - first do no harm), that few physicians realize that they originated with Hippocrates. What I am saying is that Hippocrates is a name in an encyclopedia. It's a business, OK? - not a historical society. For those physicians, (and I'm only talking to physicians) who persist in obedience to the Hippocictical Oath, at the risk to their livelihood; here's some latin for you - Noli Proclinari, (Don't bend over).

Answer 3

Hippocrates was the first recorded person who thought that one trusted to be a practitioner of the healing arts should hold himself (or herself) to a very high standard. "With purity and holiness I will practice my art..." He emphasized respect for one's teachers and one's colleagues. He was against abortion and euthanasia. He foreswore acts of injustice or corruption, and from lasciviousness with women or men...free or slave. He was adamant about patient confidentiality.

I suppose the biggest change in modern times is the admission of surgery as a legitimate branch of medicine. Abortion and euthanasia are hotly debated but widely accepted. Holiness and purity and abstention from lasciviousness seem out of date if one thinks the antics on Grey's Anatomy are standard practice.

Hippocrates was quite a guy, influenced medicine for the better for 2500 years and hopefully for a lot longer.

Answer 4

Hippocratic oath