Why Is Hippocrates Important In The History Of Medicine?

Hippocrates (460? – 370? B.C.) is acknowledged as the father of modern medicine. He was born on the island of Kos, and taught medicine there before dying in Larissa. He is known as the founder of holistic medicine, because he was the first to attribute illness to be one of the four elements – fire, water, earth, and air – rather than an affliction given by the gods. However, locals believed Hippocrates was a descendant of Asklepios, god of medicine. Hippocrates himself was a good example of his philosophy: he died aged 104. He is associated with the Hippocratic Oath and also the Hippocratic Corpus.

Hippocrates stressed the importance of fresh air, a good diet and plenty of exercise to help the body heal itself. All of Hippocrates’ students had to follow a strict ethical code that governed their behaviour as doctors known as the Hippocratic Oath. Students swore that they would maintain patient confidentiality and never deliberately poison a patient. Even today, doctors entering the profession can still choose to swear the Hippocratic oath. This oath was an attempt to place doctors on a higher footing than other healers and set them apart as specialists. Also medical ethics are still based on the Hippocratic Oath, which shows that Hippocrates is still important today.

The Hippocratic Corpus is a collection of medical books that doctors used for centuries. Hippocrates may not have written all of these books and historians simply cannot tell who wrote them. However, this collection is important because it is the first detailed list of symptoms and treatments. Doctors continued to use the theories of Hippocrates as the basis of their own work for hundreds of years, which is an important reason why Hippocrates is still considered to be one of the most important people in the history of medicine.

Hippocrates saw the healthy body as being in balance; ...

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Hippocrates saw the healthy body as being in balance; he thought that illness was an imbalance of the elements (airs, waters, places). Today we know this is not true but it was an important step forward from blaming disease on supernatural causes, which allowed the Greeks to understand disease further.

He showed how important it was to study the symptoms to make a diagnosis. Consider and predict how an illness would proceed (prognosis). He also maintained it was necessary to observe and carefully record the symptoms so that it was then possible to treat with confidence the disease. This had two advantages: doctors were more likely to choose the right cure if they took care to find the causes of the problem. Notes could also be used to help with the diagnosis and treatment of future patients

Even though Hippocrates lived thousands of years ago he still plays an important part in the medical profession. He created the Hippocratic oath is still used today, it makes clear that doctors aren’t magicians. Doctors also have to keep high standards of treatment and behaviour and to work for the benefit of patients rather than to make themselves rich. This is another important part of why Hippocrates is still considered to be one of the most important people in the history of medicine.

Hippocrate’s ideas were a strange mixture of commonsense and factual inaccuracies. His suggestions about diet and exercise are as valid today as they were 2,400 years ago and also his use of observation. However, his belief in the four humours (black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, blood) wasn’t entirely wrong. Strangely enough, this theory dominated medical treatments until the 17th century, but the importance of exercise and diet was forgotten after the Romans! Hippocrates’ most important contributions were in the development of the medical profession and in a code of conduct for doctors, which shows that he is an important person in the history of medicine.

Oliver Maltby 10A