What modern physicians can learn from Hippocrates

The Hippocratic writings on ethics are more than 2500 years old, yet they remain the foundational works of modern ethical thinking in Western medicine. Accordingly, a perspective on their breadth and insights into the practice of medicine can help contemporary physicians in a variety of medical specialties, and particularly clarify clinical issues in oncology. In this article, four significant themes that pervade Hippocratic ethical thinking are examined using the Hippocratic texts as the data source. These themes are: the limits of medicine, the search for benefits, bedside humanism, and the connections of teaching and practice. Principles from the 1984 and 1995 M. D. Anderson Cancer Center Codes of Ethics are used to illustrate and explore the modern context of each of the themes.