Athough I am familiar with the term Hippocratic oath, and have a vague sense of what it is, I had never read the complete oath. I had never heard of the term “cut for stone” which is actually in the original oath which doctors took, promising to be ethical in their practice of medicine. Today’s doctors ( not all even take an oath) take a more modern oath which does not typically include the phrase “cut for stone.”
There are several different translations of the line in the original hippocratic oath such as:
” I will not cut for stone, even for patients in whom the disease is manifest; I will leave this operation to be performed by practitioners, specialists in this art.”
“With purity and holiness I will pass my life and practice my Art. I will not cut persons laboring under the stone, but will leave this to be done by men who are practitioners of this work”
According to Hippocrates “To cut through the bladder is lethal,” and therefore should be preformed by surgeons only and not physicians. Although they are specifically talking about the practice of removing stones fron the bladder, this line actually refers to all types of surgeries.
Clever title for a book who’s main characters are Dr Thomas Stone, Marion Stone and Shiva Stone!
Friday Morning Bookclub 
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