I'm Hadar Khazzam-Horovitz. And today we're going to briefly talk about
how the Nuremberg trials brought into light some
of the most horrific experiments conducted on human subjects in the name of medical progress.
These trials uncovered a critical need
to create safeguards to be broadly acceptable
and de facto marks the birth of modern bioethics for, as Arthur Caplan,
the famous professor of bioethics,
was quoted saying, bioethics was born from the ashes of the Holocaust.
This picture was taken in nineteen forty five in Dachau Camp in Germany.
It was part of the hypothermia experiments
in which healthy war prisoners were cast into ice tankss to study the methods and pace of death,
a subject became hypothermia and died.
These studies had a well designed goal in which researchers were interested to learn how
long it will take for German pilots to survive after being shot down in the cold North Sea.
According to the affidavit submitted by Dr. Franz Blaha, who was working in the
Dachau camp from 1941 to 1945,
in his words in 1942 and 1943 experiments on human beings were conducted by Dr. Sigmund Rascher.
Dr. Rascher conducted experiments on the effects of cold water on human beings.
The subject was placed in ice cold water and kept there until he was unconscious.
Some men stood it as long as 24 to 36 hours, the lowest body temperature reach with 19 degrees.
But most men died at twenty five or twenty six degrees.
This doctor Blaha's testimony was part of eighty five witnesses testimonies,
as well as more than fifteen hundred documents which were submitted as evidence of
killing and torture of war prisoners under the guise of medical experimentation
at the famous doctor trials at Nuremberg in 1946.
So as a background following the end of World War Two,
the victorious allied countries established the International Military Tribunal
on November 19, 1945, in Nuremberg, Germany.
Total of 13 trials were held in Nuremberg between nineteen forty five and nineteen forty nine.
The second trial, beginning in December 1946,
instigated criminal proceedings against twenty three defendants,
20 of whom were German physicians,
in their leading role of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The transcript of the Nuremberg doctor trials revealed the most disturbing evidence documented
sometimes by the accused physicians themselves
as part of the experimentation protocols.
One of those documented evidence is Dr. Rascher's report to Heinrich Himmler,
the team live regarding the high altitude experiments,
different experiments conducted at Dachau on war prisoners.
The third experiment was the continuous experiments without oxygen.
At the height of 12 kilometers conducted on the thirty 37 year old Jew in good general condition.
Breathing continued up to 30 minutes after four minutes,
the experimental subject began to perspire and wiggle his head.
After five minutes, cramps occurred, then breathing increased in speed,
and the experimental subject became unconscious from eleven to 30 minutes
breathing slowed, finally stopping altogether.
In August 1947, the tribunal delivered its verdict,
which address the following two main issues.
First, declaring that 16 of the accused German physicians
had committed war crimes and crimes against Humanity,
some were sentenced to death and were executed. And the second part of the trial,
the judge announced that based on universal human right principles,
certain rules must be required to ensure safeguarding the rights of human subjects
in the conduct of medical experimentation.
This second part is what's became known as the Nuremberg code.
The final judgments articulated 10 ethical criteria
designed to protect the rights and welfare of human subjects.
These ethical standards recognized two essential rights ascribed to any research subject.
The first is the right for voluntary consent.
And the second is the rights to withdraw from the research at any time.
The other eight principles emphasize the moral obligation of the researcher
to the welfare of human
subjects and include the obligation to avoid any unnecessary or predictable
disabling injury or death.
The influence of the Nuremberg codes within the context of medical research is far reaching.
Despite not being a legally binding document,
its ethical principles have been widely adopted and codified into regulatory framework and has
served as a basis for the development of other international guidelines and policies worldwide.
I only mentioned a few in these slides, but the underlying concept of all these
international guidelines basically mirrors the codes,
principles of free and informed consent and protecting
the welfare of human participants in scientific research.
Then the Nuremburg trial also defacto
expanded the ethical debate and sparked interest by various other stakeholders.
Just as it took government officials, lawyers and doctors working together
to bring the Nazi physicians to justice at Nuremberg,
all these professionals are now working together to define the ethical discourse
and its application to protect human subjects.
In contrast to the old tradition of medical ethics,
which focused on the virtue of the doctor within the profession,
modern bioethics is based on concepts that derive from various disciplines,
including biomedical sciences, the behavioral sciences, philosophy, religion and law.
This broader discourse of ethical conduct created new and comprehensive discipline of bioethics,
this modern biomedical ethics marks a significant shift away
from the narrow, physician oriented perspective.
To the wider scientific social stance.
Now, even over 70 years after its formation,
the Nuremberg Code is often cited as the international Ten Commandments of medical ethics.
And its testimony keeps reminding us of what can happen if a person is used as a means to an end.
And on a personal note, for me, as a grandchild of Holocaust survivors,
the stories about the horrors and traumas were always part of my life.
When hearing about recent research scandals involving elderly patients,
some of whom were Holocaust survivors,
I decided to focus my research and dissertation on biomedical ethics.
And four years ago, I designed a course called Bioethics, Secular and Jewish perspective,
offered for UW students to help them explore the legal,
the ethical and religious perspective on contemporary bio ethical practices.
Such as doctor patient relationship, end of life decisions,
euthanasia and relevance of the time of this pandemic.
Scarce resources and clinical settings. And always remind them and myself
of what rightfully stated by the chief U.S. prosecution, judge, Robert H.
Jackson. The wrongs we seek to condemn and punished have been so calculated,
so malignant and so devastating
that civilization cannot tolerate there being ignored because it can not survive
their being repeated. And if there's ever a time that they will be ignored again.
Well, that's what you need lawyers for. Thank you.