Oath of the Soviet Physician
소비에트 의사 선서
A medical oath enacted by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet on 26 March 1971 and effective 1 June 1971, which all Soviet physicians and medical graduates were required to recite before entering practice. It followed the Hippocratic tradition but explicitly bound the physician to 'the principles of communist morality' and 'responsibility to the people and the Soviet government,' embedding professional ethics within the party-state framework. Championed by Health Minister Boris Petrovsky, it codified a commitment to preventive medicine and mandatory peer consultation.
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Sources
- Wikipedia (RU) Russian Wikipedia article on the Hippocratic Oath, section 'Присяга врача Советского Союза': full text of the oath, date of enactment (26 March 1971, Указ Президиума Верховного Совета СССР № 1364-VIII), and its replacement in the mid-1990s by the Russian doctor's oath.
- vikent.ru Full Russian text of the oath with the decree citation.
- pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov BMJ obituary of Boris Petrovsky: confirms Petrovsky 'supported the idea of the Oath of a Soviet Physician, which was approved by a special decree of the Soviet Parliament in 1971 and introduced to all medical schools,' and notes the oath 'follows the spirit of the Hippocratic Oath with some modifications.'
- encyclopedia.com Encyclopedia of Bioethics entry: English translation of the full oath text, notes its three distinctive features (dedication to preventive medicine, communist morality, responsibility to the people and Soviet government).