Teaching Medical Ethics in Nazi Germany: Debunking the Myth that the Nazi Physicians Abandoned Their Ethics

Abstract

AbstractIn discussions on Nazi medicine, it is often presumed that the Nazi physicians abandoned or ignored all forms of medical ethics. This notion is far from the truth even though it is very difficult to come to terms with. It would be more comfortable to believe that Nazi physicians were a marginal group of madmen and what transpired in medicine during that period was unique and irrelevant to modern medicine. However, today we know that the Nazi physicians not only had a very detailed ethical code in place, but also that they were the first in the world to teach medical ethics at medical schools. These ethics courses were compulsory at every medical school in Nazi Germany and were based on the use of a specially published textbook, called Medical Jurisprudence and Rules of the Medical Profession. The textbook provides a unique insight into the values and beliefs systems of the Nazi physicians, many of which were greatly influenced by the political and social culture of the time, and some that resonate with the current practice of medicine. Discourse on medical ethics during the Nazi period, as demonstrated by this manual, serves to remind physicians that we are all vulnerable to ethical transgressions and could do well by learning the lessons from this past.