Declaration of Geneva

The Declaration of Geneva (Physician's Oath) was adopted by the General Assembly of the World Medical Association at Geneva in 1948, amended in 1968, 1983, 1994 and editorially revised in 2005 and 2006. It is a declaration of a physician's dedication to the humanitarian goals of medicine, a declaration that was especially important in view of the medical crimes which had just been committed in Nazi Germany. The Declaration of Geneva was intended as a revision of the Hippocratic Oath to a formulation of that oath's moral truths that could be comprehended and acknowledged in a modern way.

During the post World War II era and immediately after its foundation, the World Medical Association showed concern over the state of medical ethics in general and all over the world, taking the responsibility for setting ethical guidelines for the world physicians. The details of the Nazi Doctors' Trial at Nuremberg and the revelations about what the Imperial Japanese Army had done at Unit 731 in China during the war clearly demonstrated the need for reform, and for a re-affirmed set of guidelines regarding both human rights and the rights of patients.

In 1946, a study committee had been appointed to prepare a "Charter of Medicine" which could be adopted as an oath or promise that every doctor in the world would make upon receiving his medical degree or diploma. It took two years of intensive study of the oaths and promises submitted by member associations to draft a modernized wording of the ancient oath of Hippocrates which was sent for consideration at the WMA's second general assembly in Geneva in 1948. The medical vow was adopted and the assembly agreed to name it the "Declaration of Geneva." This document was adopted by the World Medical Association only three months before the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) which provides for the security of the person.

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