do no harm

English

Etymology

Calque of Latin prīmum nōn nocēre.

Verb

do no harm (third-person singular simple present does no harm, present participle doing no harm, simple past did no harm, past participle done no harm)

1. (ethics, medicine) To perform no actions which will be injurious or in any way unfavorable to another person, regardless of whether one does anything of positive benefit for that other person.
   • 1889, Wilkie Collins, chapter 51, in The Legacy of Cain:

     "Oh, make your mind easy! I shall do no harm, if I do no good."

   • 1999 March 29, William Safire, “Essay”, in New York Times, retrieved 18 August 2014:

     [G]et government out of the gambling business. . . . These officials pervert public policy, which should at least do no harm.

   • 2005, Patricia Illingworth, Trusting Medicine: The Moral Costs of Managed Care, Routledge, →ISBN, page 100:

     First, consider the moral minimum, do no harm.

   • 2008 December 20, Judith D. Schwartz, “Making Hospitals Greener — and Patients Healthier”, in Time, retrieved 18 August 2014:

     A doctor's principle code is, "First, do no harm."

   • 2012, A. Bame Nsamenang, editor, Handbook of African Educational Theories and Practices, →ISBN, page 100:

     Hence, some people consider non-maleficence to be the most basic of all the cardinal principles of ethics; it lays down the least minimum condition for ethical correctness, as if to say: "even if you would not do good, at least do no harm."

Usage notes

• In medicine, often used in the imperative mood as a formulation of the Hippocratic Oath.
• In philosophy, often used in the imperative mood as a formulation of the moral minimum.

See also

• beneficence
• nonmaleficence

References

• “do no harm”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.