Professional standards, training and membership.
Professional standards, training and membership.
Ethics in IEMT Practice: Appendix E
The Declaration of Geneva
What is the Declaration of Geneva?
The Declaration of Geneva, also called the Physician’s Pledge, is a short modern oath for doctors. The World Medical Association (WMA) first adopted it in 1948, in the aftermath of the Second World War, when the Nuremberg doctors’ trial had exposed atrocities carried out in the name of medicine. It restates the values of the Hippocratic tradition (see Appendix A) in plain, secular language and has been revised several times since. The current text dates from 2017.
I SOLEMNLY PLEDGE to dedicate my life to the service of humanity
World Medical Association, Declaration of Geneva (as amended October 2017)
Why it appears in this course
The pledge is written for physicians, and IEMT practitioners are not physicians. Even so, it is a brief and clear summary of the values that run through this course: the client’s wellbeing comes first, people’s autonomy and dignity are respected, confidences are kept, nobody is treated worse because of who they are, and practitioners look after their own competence and health so that they can serve others well. Reading it alongside the Association’s policies shows that these are not new or special rules for IEMT. They are the shared foundation of professional care.
Selected pledges and what they mean in practice
The table quotes some of the pledges and shows where the same value appears in this course. The words “my patient” and “medical” are written for doctors. Read them as “my client” and “my practice” when you apply them. The full text is on the WMA website (link below).
| Pledge | Theme | In IEMT practice |
|---|---|---|
| “THE HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF MY PATIENT will be my first consideration” | Client first | Your client’s wellbeing comes before your income, your curiosity and your wish to be right. See Lesson 1.2. |
| “I WILL RESPECT the autonomy and dignity of my patient” | Autonomy and dignity | Consent, capacity and the right to say no or to stop. See Lesson 2.1. |
| A pledge not to let age, disability, ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, social standing or any other factor come between duty and patient (paraphrased) | Equality | Fair access, reasonable adjustments and respect for every client. See Lesson 2.6. |
| “I WILL RESPECT the secrets that are confided in me, even after the patient has died” | Confidentiality | Keep what clients tell you private, within the limits of the law and safeguarding. See Lessons 2.3 and 2.5. |
| “I WILL PRACTISE my profession with conscience and dignity and in accordance with good medical practice” | Integrity and standards | Work within your training, competence and the Association’s standards. See Lessons 1.3 and 4.1. |
| “I WILL ATTEND TO my own health, well-being, and abilities in order to provide care of the highest standard” | Self-care and competence | Supervision, continuing development and knowing when you are not fit to practise. See Lesson 4.3. |
| “I WILL SHARE my medical knowledge for the benefit of the patient and the advancement of healthcare” | Sharing knowledge | Learn from colleagues, report results honestly and contribute to the field. See Lesson 1.4 and Appendix D. |
| “I WILL NOT USE my medical knowledge to violate human rights and civil liberties, even under threat” | Human rights | Never use your skills to coerce, control or harm. See the Policy on Prohibition of Conversion Therapy and Lesson 2.2. |
Amendment history
The WMA adopted the Declaration at its General Assembly in Geneva in 1948 and has amended it several times. The dates and places below come from the WMA’s own record of the text.
| Year | What happened | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 1948 | Adopted by the 2nd General Assembly of the WMA | Geneva, Switzerland |
| 1968 | Amended by the 22nd World Medical Assembly | Sydney, Australia |
| 1983 | Amended by the 35th World Medical Assembly | Venice, Italy |
| 1994 | Amended by the 46th WMA General Assembly | Stockholm, Sweden |
| 2005 and 2006 | Editorial revisions by the 170th and 173rd WMA Council Sessions | Divonne-les-Bains, France |
| 2017 | Amended by the 68th WMA General Assembly. This revision added commitments on patient autonomy and on the physician’s own health and well-being. | Chicago, United States |
Strengths and limits
The Declaration is short, clear and widely recognised. That makes it a good moral compass and an easy thing to remember in a difficult moment. Its brevity is also its limit. It does not tell you how to weigh competing duties, how to handle a disclosure, or what to do when a client’s wishes conflict with their safety. For that you need the law, your insurer’s conditions, the Association’s policies and the habit of ethical reasoning developed in this course. Alongside the pledge, many professionals use the four principles of autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice to think through dilemmas (see Lesson 1.2).
Self-Reflection Exercise
Questions to consider
- Which of the pledges would be hardest for you to keep on a very difficult day? What would help you keep it?
- Try writing a personal practice pledge of five or six lines in your own words, based on the values above. What would you include?
- How do you look after your own health, wellbeing and skills so that you can serve clients well? What support do you have?
- Which value in the pledge do you think is most easily forgotten under commercial pressure?
Your personal pledge is for reflection only. It is not an Association document and does not replace the Association’s policies or the law.
Key Takeaways
- The Declaration of Geneva is a short modern pledge for doctors, adopted by the World Medical Association in 1948 and last amended in 2017.
- Its themes are the client’s wellbeing first, autonomy and dignity, equality, confidentiality, integrity, self-care, sharing knowledge and human rights.
- These are the shared foundations of professional care, and they run through the Association’s own policies.
- A short pledge cannot answer every dilemma. It needs to be used with the law, the Association’s standards and careful reasoning.
Next Steps
This is the final appendix. You can return to any lesson to revisit a topic, and the Association’s policies are linked throughout the course for reference.