Ethical Aspects of Human Embryo Collections: A Historically Grounded Approach to the Blechschmidt Collection at the University of Göttingen

Abstract

Human body donation and tissue collections are nowadays grounded on a legal framework centered around the concept of informed consent in most countries. Comparable regulations did not exist prior to the second half of the 20th century, when several of the most important collections of human embryos were established. As a particularly prominent example, the Human Embryology Collection (“Blechschmidt Collection”) at the Center of Anatomy, University Medical Center Göttingen, Germany, is described here with regard to how to approach a human specimen collection from the perspective of both collection ethics and the history of science. The methods and concepts used as well as the outcome in terms of historical and ethical knowledge will be discussed as a model for future projects of similar scope at other collection sites. It it also shown that general ethical recommendations published by museum and collection experts are of value only if they are related to profound knowledge about the history of the particular collection in focus.