Medical oaths and declarations
BMJ 2001;323:1440-1441
December 22-29, 2001
Editorials
"The newly qualified doctors of Imperial College School of Medicine recently adopted a ceremony in which they declare their commitment to assume the responsibilities and obligations of the medical profession. The decision to create a declaration ceremony was widely supported by the final year students and it reflects a recent resurgence in interest in medical oaths in the United Kingdom."
"The increasing complexity of healthcare arrangements and interagency collaboration, and the need to look at rationing resources, has forced the medical profession to re-examine its core values. In view of this, and with public confidence in doctors diminishing and morale at an all time low, it is perhaps unsurprising that the concept of an entire year of newly qualified doctors freely declaring their intentions to act ethically and professionally proved popular with both staff and students at Imperial College."
An excerpt from the "Declaration of a new doctor":
"I will strive to change laws that are contrary to my profession's ethics and will work towards a fairer distribution of health resources."
For the entire declaration: <http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/323/7327/1440?eaf>http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/323/7327/1440?eaf
Comment: With only 6% of their GDP devoted to health care, these young British physicians have a significant challenge in being certain that their resources are distributed fairly. Their efforts need to be directed to increasing the budget for health care.
With access to 14% of our GDP, our young physicians should have relatively negligible challenges in distributing our health care resources fairly, if it weren't for the intrusive health plans with their fragmented coverage. The real challenge is to change the laws to provide a system of public administration and universal coverage that would enable fair distribution of our abundant resources. Striving for these changes would represent the finest of our Hippocratic traditions.