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Old 08-02-2011, 08:59 PM   #1112
MarchHare
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Here's the text of the modern Hippocratic Oath:

Quote:
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 to 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.
I don't see which part the doctors were violating. If anything, they were actually following the part about preventing disease by administering vaccinations to people who otherwise might not have receive them (again, this assumes that the vaccination program was legitimate with the DNA-gathering mission occurring on the side).

Quote:
Medical ethics is quintessentially about doing no harm; A physician employing medicine as a weapon of war is reminiscent of Nazi physicians.
How was this used as a weapon of war? If they had special poison vaccines they were covertly injecting into known bin Laden associates, I'd agree with you, but they were just trying to get a DNA sample from one of Osama's family members so they could later confirm his identity with genetic evidence. I'm still failing to see how this was harmful, unethical, or a violation of the Hippocratic Oath.
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