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Hippocrates's Influence On Modern Medicine

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During a time when the Greeks were laying the foundation for medicine they brought ideas that weren’t cultured accepted but they fought against the odds introducing a paradigm shift. Medicine in Ancient Greece was firmly influenced by the values of philosophy introduced by Plato and Aristotle. Hippocrates recognized as a noble physician, but also as an outstanding philosopher. In many of his teachings, he postulated, "The physician must insert wisdom in medicine" and didn’t want medicine to be another profession based off of profit. Instead he wanted to make it something seen as a duty for mankind. In this essay I will argue that the Hippocratic oath has made a very big influence on how we interpret modern medicine through its ethical legacy …show more content…

It discusses the tri-relationship among the doctor, patient and the illness that was made. The oath was modernized and became known as the Declaration of Geneva. This shows that the oath was very important in medicine and always played a huge role. A section of the oath discusses the idea of do no harm but instead be of benefit. Hippocrates stated, "Also I will, according to my ability and judgment, prescribe a regimen for the health of the sick; but I will utterly reject harm and mischief”. This is seen as the foundation of the oath and Doctors have to take it seriously to the full extent, which is why we are so divided in this country in controversial topics such as abortion and assisted suicide. Topics like abortion are taken very serious by Hippocrates because he saw every life as having value. In the oath he said, “I will not give to a women a pessary to procure an abortion”. Hippocrates looked down on abortion and saw it as immoral to take a life of an unborn. The Pro-life stance see this as a sign that abortion since the ancient times has been looked down and we should stick to this moral value we have that killing regardless of contraception is wrong. The Pro-choice stances sees it that Hippocrates didn’t think abortion was wrong but the technique is what had him worried due to putting danger on the mother. Either stance clearly shows we need to raise awareness on a topic that is

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