The Ethics Behind Nazi Research: Is it Usable?

Benjamin Poirier

Dr. Traci Stark

Heidelberg University

Introduction

• A fine line for science

• WWII as a time for innovation and change

• Does any data really matter?

Some Basics about The Third Reich

• The 3 goals of research in concentration camps

• How far can humans be pushed?

• Lasting effects of Nazi research

Dachau Hypothermia Experiments

• What did they do?

• How reliable is the data?

Other Experiments

• Diseases, poison, and bacteria

• Possible uses of information saved

Disputed Psychological Experiments in America

• Tuskegee

• Milgram

• Zimbardo

• Governmental experiments

Addressing Ethical Issues

• Beecher and Pappworth

• Lasting effects of their work

Assessing Validity

• Dachau and beyond

• Is it a representative sample?

• What should be done?

What Should Be Done?

• Holocaust Survivors views

• My opinion

• What do you think?

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Beecher, H.K. (1966). Ethics and clinical research. New England Journal of Medicine. 274(24):1354– 1360. [PubMed]

Berger, R. (1990, January 1). Nazi Science - The Dachau Hypothermia Experiments. New England Journal of Medicine. 322:1435-1440.

Caplan, A. L. (1992). When Medicine Went Mad: Bioethics and the

Holocaust. New York. Humana Press.

Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2013). The Tuskegee

Timeline. Retrieved from

http://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/timeline.htm

Dyal, E.S. (2001). Nazi Medical Experimentation: Should the Data

Obtained be Used? Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Levy, C. (1983). The Human Body and the Law: Legal and Ethical

Considerations in Human Experimentation. New York. Oceana

Publications.

Marcuse. (2003). Medicine in Auschwitz. Retrieved from http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/classes/33d/projects/medicine/Medicine.htm

Mcleod, S. (2007). Milgram Experiment. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/milgram.htmlMolner, G. W. (1946) Survival of Hypothermia by men immersed inthe ocean. Journal of American Medical Association, 131: 1046-1050. Moreno, J. (1999). Undue risk: secret state experiments onhumans. New York, W.H. Freeman, 242. Pappworth, M.H. (1967). Human Guinea Pigs. London: Routledge andKegan Paul.Taylor, T. (1956) Trials of war criminals before the Nuremburg military tribunals under control council law No. 10 (Vol. 1). Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.US Holocaust Museum, (2014). Nazi Medical Experiments. Retrieved from ttp://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005168