do no harm
Medical ethical baseline
Do no harm is a principle of avoiding actions that would injure or worsen someone's condition, associated with medical ethics and often attributed to the Hippocratic oath.
The phrase extends beyond medicine to any field where intervention risks making things worse: The first rule of debugging is do no harm.
It implies that abstaining from action may be wiser than acting badly.
- Hippocratic OathPhysician's ethical vow
- medical oathPhysician's ethical pledge
- oathFormal binding promise
- ethicsStudy of right conduct
- moralConcerning right conduct
medical ethics · above all · restraint · duty of care · maxim · principle · precautionary · err on the side of caution · play it safe · safety · wrong · doctor-patient relationship · medicine · patient advocacy · gentle touch · professional integrity · responsibility · innocent
- harm preventionharm prevention, harm reduction, patient safety, precaution, safety protocols
- medicinedoctor, doctors, hospital, medicine, surgery
- moral sayingsdo unto others, golden rule, do the right thing, honesty is the best policy, treat others fairly
- bioethicsbioethics, medical ethics, genetic engineering, beneficence, non-maleficence
- ethicsmorality, deontology, dignity, sanctity of life, utilitarianism
- ancient medicinephysicians, healers, Hippocratic Oath, Hippocratic oath, four humors
do no harmdo good
Act to benefit others
beneficence · heal · intervene · cure · rescue
do no harmby any means necessary
the ends justify the means · anything goes · ruthlessness · cruelty · no holds barred
harmful, harmless, harmed, doer, harms, harming, harmlessly, harmfully, harmlessness