THE HIPPOCRATIC OATH IN A CHRISTIAN AND PLURALIST SOCIETY: ETHICAL CONTINUITY, THEOLOGICAL TENSION, AND THE CASE FOR A RENEWED PHYSICIAN'S PLEDGE IN ROMANIAN MEDICAL EDUCATION
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22551/MSJ.2026.03.01Keywords:
HIPPOCRATIC OATH, CHRISTIAN, PLURALIST, ETHICAL CONTINUITY, THEOLOGICAL TENSION, ROMANIAN MEDICAL EDUCATIONAbstract
Few texts in medical history retain the symbolic force of the Hippocratic Oath. Though brief, ancient, and transmitted through a complex tradition, the Oath endures as the moral emblem of medicine. Its significance extends beyond history: the Oath frames medicine as a practice defined by self-restraint, fidelity to the patient, confidentiality, respect for teachers, and accountability to a broader moral order (1-3). The Hippocratic Oath stands as one of Western medicine's most enduring ethical touchstones.
References
1. Imran M, Samad S, Maaz M, Qadeer A, Najmi AK, Aqil M. Hippocratic oath and conversion of ethico-regulatory aspects onto doctors as a physician, private individual and a clinical investigator. Journal of Mid-life Health 2013; 4(4): 203-209.
2. Edelstein L. The Hippocratic Oath: text, translation and interpretation. Ancient medicine: selected papers of Ludwig Edelstein 2000: 3-63.
3. Askitopoulou H, Vgontzas AN. The relevance of the Hippocratic Oath to the ethical and moral values of contemporary medicine. Part II: interpretation of the Hippocratic Oath-today's perspective. European Spine Journal 2018; 27(7): 1491-1500.
4. Hulkower R. The history of the Hippocratic Oath: outdated, inauthentic, and yet still relevant. Einstein Journal of Biology and Medicine 2016; 25(1): 41-44.
5. Beauchamp TL, Childress JF. Principles of Biomedical. Ethics, 1994; 4.
6. Project MP. Medical professionalism in the new millennium: a physicians' charter. The Lancet 2002; 359(9305): 520-522.
7. Cruess RL, Cruess SR, Boudreau JD, Snell L, Steinert Y. Reframing medical education to support professional identity formation. Academic Medicine. 2014; 89(11): 1446-1451.
8. Orr RD, Pang N, Pellegrino ED, Siegler M. Use of the Hippocratic Oath: a review of twentieth century practice and a content analysis of oaths administered in medical schools in the US and Canada in 1993. The Journal of Clinical Ethics 1997; 8(4): 377-388.
9. Scheinman SJ, Fleming P, Niotis K. Oath Taking at U.S. and Canadian Medical School Ceremonies: Historical Perspectives, Current Practices, and Future Considerations. Academic Medicine 2018; 93(9): 1301-1306.
10. Sritharan K, Russell G, Fritz Z, Wong D, Rollin M, Dunning J, et al. Medical oaths and declarations. BMJ (Clinical research ed) 2001; 323(7327): 1440-1441.
11. Kopel J. The Hippocratic Oath across the interfaith spectrum. Proceedings (Baylor University Medical Center) 2022; 35(2): 266-269.
12. Christian A. Christian Hippocratic Oath: University of Navarra; [cited 2026 27.05.2026]. Available from: https: //en.unav.edu/web/humanities-and-medical-ethics-unit/bioethics-material/juramento-hipocratico-cristiano?utm#gsc.tab=0.
13. Association WM. WMA Declaration of Geneva. The Physician's Pledge. Retrieved June 2018; 25: 2021.
14. Parsa-Parsi RW. The Revised Declaration of Geneva: A Modern-Day Physician's Pledge. JAMA 2017; 318(20): 1971-1972.
15. Wiesing U. The Hippocratic Oath and the Declaration of Geneva: legitimisation attempts of professional conduct. Medicine, Health Care, and Philosophy 2020; 23(1): 81-86.
Additional Files
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 The Medical-Surgical Journal

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
COPYRIGHT
Once an article is accepted for publication, MSJ requests a transfer of copyrights for published articles.
COPYRIGHT TRANSFER FORM FOR
REVISTA MEDICO-CHIRURGICALĂ A SOCIETĂȚII DE MEDICI ȘI NATURALIȘTI DIN IAȘI /
THE MEDICAL-SURGICAL JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF PHYSICIANS AND NATURALISTS FROM IASI
We, the undersigned authors of the manuscript entitled
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
warrant that this manuscript, which is submitted for publication in the REVISTA MEDICO-CHIRURGICALĂ, has not been published and it is not under consideration for publication in another journal.
- we give the consent for publication in the REVISTA MEDICO-CHIRURGICALĂ, in printed and electronic format and we transfer unconditioned and complete the copyright of this manuscript to the REVISTA MEDICO-CHIRURGICALĂ, in the event of its acceptance.
- the manuscript does not break the intellectual property rights of any other person.
- we have read the submitted version of the manuscript and we are fully responsible for the content.
Names and signatures of authors / copyright owners (the following sequence is the authorship of the article):
- ______________________________/_________________________
- ______________________________/_________________________
- ______________________________/_________________________
N.B. All the authors must sign this form