| dc.description.abstract | Abstract Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to critically examine the importance of applying a combination of Hippocratic and Christian ethics in modern medicine. Background: The ethical values should be an essential part of health care leadership and health care organizations. Since antiquity, Hippocratic medicine´s overarching concern was to put the patient first. This is apparently also the aim of medicine as it is practiced today. But is this true? What is the actual reality? Hippocratic ethics, as it is reflected in the Oath and Christian ethics, have the promotion of health as its main objective. What values should characterize the relationship between physician and patient and among physicians themselves? In the Hippocratic tradition, the physicians of ancient Greece were members of a religious cult as much as they were physicians. This is very important. What comes from insight is also divine. Physicians deal with man´s health. A man is a person with body, mind and soul. In the Holy Bible, sanctity is identified with God and not with man or holy things, like in ancient Hellenism. The Fathers of the Church identified sanctity with the person , the prosopon . In the Orthodox Christian tradition: The prosopon is created in the image of God. In modern times, modern ethics, is dictated by man. It is a function either of his/her pure thinking or his/her secular evaluation of the anticipated consequences of different courses of action. In the first case we talk about an ethics of obligations or a deontology, in the second case about utilitarian ethics. Deontology may seem to reflect a denaturation of Christian ethics. Utilitarianism is a more directly secular ethics. It takes as its point of departure man s worldly interests. These two ethics, and particularly the latter, increasingly dominate modern ethical discourses, also the ones that take place within medicine. This thesis tries to explain why the ethics of the Christian and Hippocratic traditions have come on the defensive in modern society, but also discusses the potential that these traditions continue to represent themselves. Methods: This thesis explores briefly some of the literature on medical ethics, primarily from an historical perspective. The development is traced from the Hippocratic to the Christian times and finally to the modern, secular era. It is shown how this development has ended up in a deep crisis. At stake is the status of man as prosopon , as anthropos . Findings: Modern health care is characterized by its dependence upon secular science and technology. This dependence has made it possible to treat physical and mental illness in a way that is unprecedented. The image of man though, which this science is based on, is also relativizing the view of man, as something sacrosanct and holistic, making it increasingly difficult for physicians to know how to proceed ethically. As modern medicine is increasingly becoming an industrial empire, tightly managed, it is also becoming more and more difficult for the individual physician to exercise his or her personal ethical judgment in his or her encounters with patients. His or her practice is increasingly being dictated and controlled. This system of governance from above also undermines physicians possibilities of organizing their work as they think, both as it regards their professional competence and their ethical concerns, thus strengthening their feeling of being alienated. Conclusion: The Hippocratic enterprise was inspired by humanistic ideals and an undeviating dedication to the patient. It was also founded on the belief that professionalism and ethical consciousness, first of all, had to be safeguarded, through collegial cooperation – i.e. through the brotherhood of physicians. These ideals, complemented with Christian ideals and adapted to our times, should be inspiring physicians today, and should provide premises for the organization and management of health care institutions. | eng |