The Physician's Oath was codified in the Declaration of Geneva (1948) by the World Medical Association.[1]
It was adopted by the General Assembly of the World Medical Association, Geneva, Switzerland, September 1948 and amended by the 22nd World Medical Assembly, Sydney, Australia, August 1968.[2]
Contents |
This oath seems to be a response to the atrocities committed by the physicians in Nazi Germany.[3] Notably, this oath requires the physician to "not use [his] medical knowledge contrary to the laws of humanity."[4] This document was adopted by the World Medical Association only three months before the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) which provides for the security of the person.[3]
Upon a physician's retirement, the "Physician's Oath on Retirement" is being proposed "to address the moral, psychological, social, and cultural responsibilities that a physician assumes when voluntarily relinquishing the responsibilities of active medical practice."[5]
At the time of being admitted as a member of the medical profession:
This oath would seem to originate from previous iterations and attempts at understanding the weighty moral responsibility of all physicians, extending concepts from its precedent or root oaths, the Hippocratic Oath and Oath of Maimonides as well as new lessons to incorporate the social consciences of a people recovering from the consequences of dissociation of individual responsibility from the destructive potential industrialization applied to war.