A Hippocratic Oath for Humankind

I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:

I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those... [researchers] 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... [suffering], all measures which are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.

I will remember that there is art to... [politics] as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the... [expert’s judgment] or the... [law’s enforcement].

I will not be ashamed to say “I know not, ” nor will I fail to call in my colleague when the skills of another are needed for... [an individual’s] recovery.

I will respect the privacy of my... [fellows], 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 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[n]... [anguished]... 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... [deprived].

I will prevent... [affliction] 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.

Quoted from, with language more general than of the medical doctor-patient relationship in the original, Louis Lasagna, “Oath,” undated document, D302, Box 2, Folder 3, Courtesy of the Department of Rare Books, Special Collections and Preservation, University of Rochester River Campus Libraries. I replaced references to sickness and medicine with references to suffering and science more broadly.