Is physician-aid-in-dying a violation of the Hippocratic Oath?
Strictly going by the Hippocratic Oath which clearly states that “I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for, nor will make a suggestion to this effect” then euthanasia is clearly a violation of the oath. This has been one of the main arguments of the opposition against euthanasia. However, the oath also expressly prohibits physicians from “using the knife” (performing any surgery) or teaching women the medical arts. So, if doctors are really that serious about following the Hippocratic Oath, they should consider not doing surgery and prohibiting females from medical training or practice. Also abortion which was considered a serious violation of the Hippocratic Oath 20 years ago is now legal: euthanasia may have the same fate. Apart from these considerations, Hippocrates in his book Epidemic has clearly stated that “If a doctor cannot do any good then he must be prevented from doing harm”, so in this regard Hippocrates does seem to be inclined towards supporting euthanas
