Wounding

Chapter 3 (Wounding) considers the wounds forsworn in the Oath. It focuses particularly upon the killing of one’s patient as the paradigmatic instance of wounding, while also considering sexual exploitation and violations of confidentiality. Chapter 3 argues on behalf of the Oath, especially for its contention (found in the oath-proper) that a physician electively killing a patient, even at the request of that patient, instances harm and injustice. It advances numerous reasons for regarding a doctor’s involvement in killing as a profound error that entirely disorients medicine as an exclusively therapeutic practice. Further, it argues for the Oath’s implicit claim that iatrogenic harm (especially in the form of role-conflation as instanced by Dr. Guillotin, whose example serves as a cautionary tale) amounts to the foundational medical-ethical problem the answer to which (found in the Oath) inaugurates medicine as a profession (in contrast to, e.g., conflicts of interest).