As the Russian-Chechen conflict moved into its bloodiest phase, Khassan Baiev was practising as a cosmetic surgeon moulding Moscow's super-rich. But, shocked by news from his homeland, his conscience forced him back to Chechnya. Once there, despite accusations of traitorship from Chechen terrorists and Russian oppressors alike, his allegiance to the Hippocratic Oath drove him to treat patients from both sides. He was shot at, imprisoned, bombed, tortured and beaten. Yet through it all he continued working, often under candlelight, without basic medical supplies, without anaesthesia and under fire. THE OATH is the haunting story of the courage one man found to value his principles above his own life.