ANALYSIS OF THE ETHICAL PRINCIPLES IN MED ICAL OATHS USED BY MEDICAL FACULTIES OF ARGENTINA IN RELATION TO THE HIPPOCRATIC-OATH

Medical oaths have constituted the source of all Medical Ethics throug h centuries. Since the 60s a new consensus on ethics was sought to app ly to the new medical problems. The consensus was on the basic princip les: beneficence, non-maleficence, justice and respect for the patient 's autonomy with its two rules of confidentiality and veracity. The Hi ppocratic Oath specifies the principles of beneficence and non-malefia nce and the rule of confidentiality. They are included in the texts us ed in different Medical Schools of the United States, Canada and the U nited Kingdom. The purpose of this analysis is to determine which of t hose ethical principles are included in the Argentinian Medical Oaths. At present, out of the ten Faculties of Medicine that use a formula, six choose the Declaration of Geneva and the rest use their own texts. No schools use the Hippocratic Oath. Neither of the five different Oa ths include the four principles. The rule of confidentiality is the on e most frequently mentioned followed by the principles of beneficence and justice. The principles of non-maleficence and of respect for the patient's autonomy, in general, and the rule of veracity, in particula r, are not indicated. Revision of the Medical Oaths used in Argentina, is basical for the ethical revision suggested, in order to include al l the ethical principles strongly agreed upon.