title: The Hippocratic thorn in bioethics' hide: cults, sects, and strangeness.
abstract: Bioethicists have typically disdained where they did not simply ignore the Hippocratic tradition in medicine. Its exclusivity--an oath of and for physicians--seemed contrary to the perspective that bioethicists have attempted to invoke. Robert M. Veatch recently articulated this rejection of the Hippocratic tradition, and of a professional ethic of medicine in general, in a volume based on his Gifford lectures. Here that argument is critiqued. The strengths of the Hippocratic tradition as a flexible and ethical social doctrine are offered in its stead.
authors.affiliation: *University of British Columbia, 136 Hammersmith Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M4E 2W6, Canada. tkoch@geog.ubc.ca.
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Koch
mesh_terms: D026822:Ethicists; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D006625:Hippocratic Oath; D006801:Humans
keywords: Hippocrates; Hippocratic Oath; Robert Veatch; covenant; medical ethics; professional ethics