Most of us have heard of the Hipocratic oath and HIPPA laws that protect Patient Confidentiality: "Whatever I see or hear in the lives of my patients... I will keep secret and will never reveal."
But we may not know much about this fellow who started it all.
Hippocrates of Kos (c. 460 – c. 370 BCE is considered the "Father of Western Medicine," and this statue to honor him is located in the Hall of Immortals at the International Museum of Surgical Science. The sculpture was created in 1950 by French-American sculptor Louis Linck.
: Hippocrates is depicted wearing traditional Greek robes, holding a large unrolled scroll containing the text of the famous Hippocratic Oath.
Opening Lines on the Scroll:
"I SWEAR BY APOLLO, BY ESCULAPIUS, BY HYGIEIA, BY PANACEA, AND BY ALL THE GODS AND THE GODDESSES..."
This explicitly invokes the healing deities of Greek mythology, starting with Apollo, his son Asclepius (Esculapius), and Asclepius’s daughters Hygieia and Panacea.
When I was in Greece I visited the ruins of Asclepius' Sanctuary and brought back this brass figure of Asclepius for my massage therapy treatment room.
Note the snake he is holding.
Snakes, believed by the Greeks to have healing powers, were sacred to Asclepius and were allowed to roam free in his temples. (I didn't see any snakes when I was there!) The rod of Asclepius, entwined by a single serpent, can be found in medical symbols and on the flag of the World Health Organization.
The scroll that the statue of Hippocrates is holding proceeds to outline foundational tenets of medical practice, including treating patients to the best of one's ability, respecting teachers and colleagues, protecting patient confidentiality ("WHATSOEVER I SHALL SEE OR HEAR... I WILL NEVER DIVULGE"), and upholding moral integrity in practice.
Most medical schools today use modern adaptations rather than the classical text, which originally swore by ancient Greek gods like Apollo and Asclepius.
When taking the oath medical professionals swear to never to prescribe deadly drugs, facilitate euthanasia, or cause intentional harm. They also Commit to abstain from sexual misconduct with patients and maintaining a clean, pious life.
Prior to Hippocrates, illness was widely attributed to divine punishment or evil spirits. He posited that diseases are caused naturally by environmental factors, diet, and living habits rather than supernatural forces. teachings of his medical school on the island of Kos. Hippocratic medicine believed the human body contained four primary fluids (humors): blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. Disease was thought to result from an imbalance among these humors—a framework that dominated Western and Islamic medicine for nearly two millennia.
Hippocrates transformed medicine from a realm dominated by superstition, divine punishment, and magic into a systematic discipline based on observation, clinical diagnosis, and natural cause-and-effect reasoning. The ethical principles set forth in the Hippocratic Oath continue to serve as the foundation for modern medical ethics and physician pledges worldwide.
All photos are from my family albums
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