Do Doctors still take the Hippocratic oath?
Q:Several issues back, you mentioned that doctors in the UK take the Hippocratic oath. Is this still true? P C, London......
A:Apparently not. Irvine Loudon, a medical historian in Wantage, Oxfordshire, recently wrote (BMJ, 6 August 1994): "There is a widespread public belief that the oath is still administered to all doctors on graduation." Loudon's research "failed to find even a shred of evidence that the oath was administered anywhere at any time."