A Hippocratic Oath For Integrative Health Practitioners

What does “integrative medicine” or “integrative health” mean when a practitioner advertises with such terms? Growing consumer interest in healthcare strategies that respect therapies from multiple fields has led to a proliferation of these terms.

- John Weeks

But what does it mean – or should it mean – to consumers if a practitioner announces such an affiliation?

In early May 2017, practitioners and researchers from 13 separate countries and continents attempted to provide answers. They announced a set of anchoring values in a document called the “The Berlin Agreement: Self-Responsibility and Social Action in Practicing and Fostering Integrative Medicine and Health Globally.”

The Berlin Agreement was developed over a 10-month, collaborative process via the members of the organizing committee of the World Congress on Integrative Medicine and Health. I was privileged to team with one of the Congress’ co-presidents, Berlin physician Benno Brinkhaus, MD, to help guide the process.

After the document went public in early May, a reader shared a compelling perspective. With globalization and the dramatic changes in medicine, might it be time to rewrite or update the Hippocratic Oath physicians take on entering practice? Was the Berlin Agreement a template?

The question is important to consumers as these are potentially the values that you would see, or want to see, in your healthcare practitioner. What values of special interest to modern-day, selfcare-oriented medical consumers did this international group choose to highlight?