History of Europe

500 years ago, a document of consent and exoneration of medical responsibility was already signed

Although it is still a historical tradition, in many countries, students who finish their medical degree take the Hippocratic Oath, a kind of ethical norm that marks the doctor-patient relationship. The Greek Hippocrates is considered (5th century BC) as one of the foremost figures in the history of medicine and is referred to by many as the "father of medicine" in recognition of his significant and enduring contributions to the science. Founder of a medical school in ancient Greece, he established it as a discipline separate from other fields with which it had been traditionally associated and turned the practice of medicine into a true profession, establishing in the oath that bears his name the bases of the practice of medicine…

I swear by Apollo the doctor, by Aesculapius, Hygieia and Panacea, by all the gods and goddesses, taking them as witnesses, to faithfully fulfill, to the best of my knowledge and understanding, this oath and commitment:
To venerate as my father who taught me this art, share with him my goods and assist him in his needs; consider his children as my brothers, teach them this art for free if they want to learn it; communicate the vulgar precepts and the secret teachings and all the rest of the doctrine to my children and to the children of my teachers, and to all the committed students and those who have taken an oath, according to custom, but to no one else.
I will never give no lethal medicine, no matter how much they ask me, nor will I take any initiative of this kind; Nor will I administer an abortifacient to any woman. On the contrary, I will live and practice my art in a holy and pure way.
In whatever house I enter, I will do it for the good of the sick, avoiding all willful injustice and all corruption, especially from all shameful relationships with women and boys, whether they are free or slaves.
Everything I see and hear in the exercise of my profession, and everything I know about someone's life, if it is something that should not be divulged, I will keep silent and I will keep it with inviolable secrecy.
If I fulfill the oath in full, may I live happily and reap the fruits of my art and be honored by all men and by the remotest posterity. But if I am a transgressor and I perjure myself, avenge me otherwise. -Classic text-

In the Middle Ages, the teachings inherited from classical medicine, with Hippocrates and Galen as the highest representatives, gave way to other practices in which one might wonder if we would have gone to the doctor in the Middle Ages. Seeing the illustrations of the time, that of “in any house that I enter, I will do it for the good of the sick ” or “I will never give anyone deadly medicine ” seemed like a joke in bad taste. It would not be until the arrival of the Renaissance, where classical values ​​are recovered in all disciplines, when the oath, and its observance, would be reborn again. It would be necessary to wait until the middle of the 20th century, with the approval of the Nuremberg Code (1947), to find new terms in the doctor-patient relationship such as “informed consent ” or “disclaimer “. Something that everyone who has had to go through a hospital for some type of intervention knows and has had to sign. The operation in question is reported, of the possible consequences and the consent for said intervention is signed and, at the same time, the doctor is released from any type of responsibility. So far, everything in its place... but as I have already told you on many occasions, if there is a discipline in which absolute truths can become relative, that is history. The historiansOmur Sayligil and Hilmi Ozdenb from Eskisehir Osmangazi University (Turkey) have founda medical release and consent document from 1524 . Along with a promise not to sue if anything goes wrong, a patient, in the presence of witnesses, gives permission for surgeons to remove a stone from his bladder.

"This is written to certify that Dimitri bin Nikola, a dhimmi -a non-Muslim in the Ottoman Empire-, resident in the Balıkpazarı neighborhood of the city of Bursa, has a stone in his bladder and appeared before the surgeon Cerrah Seydi Ali bin Berekât es-Seybî to take it away from him. Before the Sharia court in the presence of the qadi he will pay 300 akce (silver coins) for the removal of stone and Dimitri will not sue Seydi Ali if he suffers any harm and even if he loses his life due to the removal of stone»:bin Hasan did Abdullah bin Ali Kemal (Date:26 Dhu al-Qi'dah 933)