PROFESSIONALISM, OATHS AND DECLARATIONS

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Oaths and declarations are a way in which professions
promise to the public that they will uphold a publically
accepted set of values, enabling that profession to be
trusted and have a certain status within society. They
also represent a way in which a profession can remind
its members of those core values.
The Hippocratic Oath ( 425 BC) has historically been
seen as part of the Western medical tradition. It encourages
a number of concepts that are still relevant today:
the teaching of medicine; the consideration of the
patient’s best interests; confidentiality and the abstinence
from ‘whatever is deleterious and mischievous’.
However, it does not mention concepts such as autonomy
or justice, and forbids performing surgery. The
original Hippocratic Oath is now rarely taken in UK
medical schools, though some have written modern
versions.
The Declaration of Geneva (1948, amended 1968 and
most recently revised in 2006) is a modern-day Hippocratic
Oath, requiring doctors to make the health of
their patients their ‘first consideration’.
The Declaration of Helsinki (1964, revised in 2008)
deals with biomedical research. It states that ‘the interests
of the subject must always prevail over the interests
of science and society’.
Both declarations arose from the general concern by
the world medical community at how the medical profession
in Germany became complicit in the activities of
the Nazi party in the time leading up to and during the
Second World War.
Since the nineteenth century, in the UK there has
been professional regulation of doctors. Initially, this
was to prevent unqualified practitioners from claiming
the title. Today, professional regulation is far more
extensive. This is discussed further later in this chapter.

Professional regulation
In the UK, doctors are obliged to register with the General
Medical Council (GMC) and to take membership of
a Royal College relevant to their area of practice. At present,
membership of the British Medical Association
(BMA) is optional. Each of these bodies has an important,
if sometimes overlapping, role.

HINTS AND TIPS
You should know what the GMC, the BMA, the Royal
Medical Colleges and the indemnity bodies do – each
plays an important role for doctors.

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