Modern Health Information Technology Hippocratic Oath v. 1.0

“I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgement, this covenant:

I will respect the hard-won Health IT software gains of those clinicians and software engineers in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such software knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.

I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all health IT measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of proprietary Electronic Health Record software and faulty pseudo open source licenses.

I will remember that there is art to health care informatics as well as science, and that the unexpected insights and implementations of lone practitioners may outweigh the combined knowledge of EHR companies.

I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail in safeguarding the rights of myself and others to run, copy, distribute, study, change, and improve Electronic Health Record software.

I will respect the privacy and security of my patients Electronic Health Records, that their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially I will not rely on 'security through obscurity'. Above all, I must not play or allow others to play at God with my patients intimate secret, information that is and should remain sacred.

I will remember that I do not treat a profit margin, a brand or logo, but a sick human being whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. I do not safeguard or favor certain business models for short-term expediency and long term repentence. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.

I will prevent disease using software and quality engineering whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.

I will remember that I remain a member of society and only secondarily to the narrow interests of sub-societies, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.

If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.”

--Ignacio Valdes, MD, MS

<  |  >