The first line reads, “First do no harm.” According to the editorial, physicians who prescribe opioids to treat pain patients may be violating the Hippocratic Oath, because “a doctor’s first concern is to not do anything to make things worse.”
The Hippocratic Oath is not the origin of the phrase “First do no harm.” As N.S. Gill writes in Thoughtco, many people mistakenly believe that “First do no harm” is a quotation from the Hippocratic Oath. That is not the case.
But, more importantly, the creed does not say that doctors must never provide a clinical intervention that may benefit a patient without also triggering some degree of harm.