Yes, I do know what they say about books and their covers. And I do love S.J. Rozan’s Lydia-Chin-and-Bill-Smith series. But I was still initially irritated as soon as I glimpsed the cover of the latest book in that series, First Do No Harm. “Why?” you ask; “Isn’t that just the famous quote from the Hippocratic Oath?”

Well, it’s famous all right, but — take a deep breath —it’s nowhere in the Hippocratic Oath! I even checked the original Greek version, in case it was a translation error. There are similar passages, like the following one, but nothing that can be translated as placing the do-no-harm first:

διαιτήμασί τε χρήσομαι ἐπ᾽ ὠφελείῃ καμνόντων κατὰ δύναμιν καὶ κρίσιν ἐμήν, ἐπὶ δηλήσει δὲ καὶ ἀδικίῃ εἴρξειν.

As you can see, it does not say “first do not harm,” though it does say “I will do no harm [to my patients].” The presence or absence of first is not just a pedantic technicality; it alters the entire meaning of the oath. A comparison with Asimov’s laws of robotics illustrates the problem: a robot physician would be unwilling to prescribe chemotherapy because his first law says “A robot may not injure a human being…” and doesn’t allow balancing the injury with the gain. (Thus the eventual invention of the Zeroth Law.) Likewise for the common non-quote found in Rozan’s title.

Sorry to go on for so long, but it does matter for this otherwise excellent novel. Pretty much everyone is familiar with doctors and hospitals, whether in real life or in medical dramas, so this is not one of those mysteries that you will want to read in order to learn about a new setting. But it’s well worth reading, not only for the plot and the character development but also for meeting characters who are familiar from earlier entries in the series and for meeting those who will surely be familiar in subsequent stories.

Categories: Books