Six Values Never to Silence: Jewish Perspectives on Nazi Medical Professionalism.

Jacob M Kolman,Susan M Miller

doi:10.5041/rmmj.10327

Jacob M Kolman, Susan M Miller

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5041/rmmj.10327

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Abstract

An ideological case study based on medical profession norms during the Third Reich will be used to exemplify the importance of diversity in the manifestations of professional ethics. The German professional medical community banned their Jewish colleagues from treating German citizens. This included legally mandated employment discrimination and outright censure which led to a professional ethic devoid of diverse voices. While the escalation to the T-4 program and medicalized genocide was influenced by many causes, the intentional, ethnocentric-based exclusion of voices was an important contributing element to the chronicled degradation of societal mores. For illustration, six core Jewish values—life, peace, justice, mercy, scholarship, and sincerity of intention—will be detailed for their potential to inspire health-care professionals to defend and protect minorities and for readers to think critically about the role of medical professionalism in Third Reich society. The Jewish teachings highlight the inherent professional obligations physicians have toward their patients in contrast to the Third Reich’s corruption of patient-centered professionalism. More fundamentally, juxtaposing Jewish and Nazi teachings exposes the loss of perspective when a profession’s identity spurns diversity. To ensure respect for persons in all vulnerable minorities, the first step is addressing professional inclusion of minority voices.

Highlights

With the recent rise of divisive rhetoric in the US and Europe, it is important to remember how ignoring diverse voices can contribute to the ethical deterioration within a culture
Several core Jewish values apply to medicine, including an emphasis on the preservation of life; by mid-1933, the professional medical community of Germany banished Jews from their ranks through employment discrimination followed by outright censure, preceding relevant Nazi legal decrees.[1]
Professionals and institutions relinquished their duties to the individual patient in favor of a societal emphasis on economic worth and eugenic hygiene, which, as recent scholarship has shown, even became codified into professional ethics curricula for German medical students.[2]

Summary

Introduction

With the recent rise of divisive rhetoric in the US and Europe, it is important to remember how ignoring diverse voices can contribute to the ethical deterioration within a culture.

Results

Conclusion