Self-study
P1
The moral precepts embodied in the Hippocratic oath, which physicians standardly affirm upon beginning medical practice, have long been considered the immutable bedrock of medical ethics, binding physicians in a moral community that reaches across temporal, cultural, and national barriers. █████ ████ ████████ ███ ████████ █████████ ██ ████ ██████████ ███████ ██ ███ █████████ ███ ███ ███████ ███ ███ ███ ████ ██ ████████ ███ ██ ███████ ██ ███████ █████████ ██ ████████████ ███████ █████████ ███ ████████████ ██ █████████ ██████████████████ ██████ ██████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████████ ███ ████████ ██████ ███████████ ███ ███
Intro topic ·
Hippocratic oath as basis of medical ethics
Oath to act in patients' best interests and adopt standards of professional conduct
Criticism 1 ·
Oath is outdated, oath's rules too inflexible
Criticism 2 ·
Oath undermines patient privacy and autonomy
Criticism 3 ·
Oath interferes with access to care
Requires doctors to prioritize individual patient needs over broader societal considerations. Also limits role of market forces in driving quality and availability of care.
Criticism 4 ·
Oath overlooks important considerations
Human experimentation, connection between doctors and other health care providers
Criticism 5 ·
Oath's origins are uncertain
Perhaps oath wasn't always widely accepted
P2
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Rebuttal to crticism 5 ·
Oath's origins are irrelevant
Doctors have long since agreed with oath's principles
Rebuttal to criticisms 1-4 ·
Oath still necessary despite those criticisms
Solution ·
Keep oath's core value while reforming other, less essential aspects
Example of solution ·
Oath previously reinterpreted to allow surgery
Passage Style
Critique or debate
14.
Which one of the following █████ ██ ████ ████████ ██ █ █████ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ██ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ██ █████████ ██████
a
"The Ancients versus ███ ████████ ███████████ █████ █████ ███████ ███████
This doesn’t capture the passage’s focus on the Hippocratic oath. The passage isn’t about the general topic of conflicting ideas about medical ethics. It’s about a specific oath and what should be done with it. In addition, the author does not focus on comparing modern ideas about ethics to ancient ones; although a difference between modern ideas and ancient ones is mentioned as part of critics’ argument concerning the oath, that comparison isn’t the focus of the author’s argument in P2.
b
"Hypocritical Oafs: Why ████████ █████ ██████████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████ ██ ███████ █████
This title is too focused on the motivations of the critics. It doesn’t capture the broader topic of what should be done with the Hippocratic oath. In addition, the reference to “managed care” is part of just one point made by the critics; there’s no reason the title of the passage should mention managed care.
c
"Genetic Fallacy in ███ ███ ██ ██████████████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ███████████ ████ █████ ███████
The author’s point that the origins of the oath don’t matter is simply one minor point in support of the broader rejection of the critics’ views. So (C) is too narrow to be the main point.
d
"The Dead Hand ██ ████████████ ████████ ███ ████ ██ ███████ █████ ██ ██████ █████████
This doesn’t fit, because the author isn’t trying to break away from ancient ideas. Rather, the author wants to retain the core value of the oath, not break away from it.
e
"Prescription for the ███████████ █████ ████████ ██ █████ █████████
This is the best title, because it captures the question of whether the oath needs dramatic changes (”Major Surgery”) or only minor adaptation (”Facelift”). The author argues for only minor adaptation.