THE NUREMBERG CODE 1947 Rels 300 Nurs 330

THE NUREMBERG CODE 1947 Rels 300 / Nurs 330 22 October 2014

300/330 - appleby 2 Aryan racial purity § Hitler became the Chancellor of the Third Reich in 1933 § his National Socialist Party passed a law designed to improve the Aryan race § law allowed physicians to sterilize people who were "in any way visibly sick or who have inherited a disease and can therefore pass it on” § 200, 000 to 350, 000 people were sterilized due to mental conditions (mental deficiency, schizophrenia, manic depressive insanity), epilepsy, Huntington's chorea and hereditary alcoholism, hereditary blindness, hereditary deafness, grave bodily malformations and "crippled" states such as club foot, cleft palate and harelip

300/330 - appleby 3 Hartheim Castle was a "euthanasia" killing center (Hartheim, Austria) Between December 1939 and August 1941: § 50, 000 to 60, 000 Germans § children and adults § physically and mentally disabled were secretly killed by lethal injections or in gas chambers designed to look like shower stalls

300/330 - appleby Cemetery at Hadamar where “euthanasia” victims were buried Victims included: § 80 -100, 000 adult mental patients from institutions § 5, 000 children in institutions § 1, 000 Jews in institutions § 20, 000 concentration camp inmates transported to killing centers § 70, 000 patients gassed § 20, 000 died of starvation or due to medication 4

300/330 - appleby 5 Sterilization experiments § March 1941 to January 1945: § sterilization experiments were conducted at the Auschwitz and Ravensbrueck concentration camps § purpose: to develop a method of sterilization which would be suitable for sterilizing thousands of people with a minimum of time and effort § eugenic surgical sterilization (used in the institutions) took too much time and cost too much § sterilization experiments used X-rays, surgery, chemicals and drugs § thousands of victims were sterilized and thereby suffered great mental and physical anguish

300/330 - appleby 6 Genocide of non-Aryans & physically and mentally disabled… A Gypsy at Auschwitz …by means of extermination and sterilization • castration by means of xrays • medicinal sterilization • caladium seguinum • chemical sterilization • Jewish & Gypsy women

300/330 - appleby 7 Genetic experimentation on twins: Josef Mengele § 3000 twins underwent “genetic” experiments § only 200 survived § also midgets, dwarf & hunchbacks § experimental surgeries without anesthesia; blood transfusions from one to other twin; isolation endurance; injections with lethal germs; sex change operations; organ & limb removals; eye drops to change colour § kill and autopsy both twins

300/330 - appleby 8 Eva and Miriam Mozes The Stern sisters – twin survivors; • later in life, in Israel • founded CANDLES: Children of Auschwitz Nazi Deadly Laboratory Experiments Survivors • the story of Eva & Miriam Mozes http: //www. pbs. org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/july-132007/holocaust-forgiveness-advocate-eva-kor/3126

300/330 - appleby 9 High Altitude experiments A prisoner in a compression chamber loses consciousness (and later dies) during an experiment to determine altitudes at which aircraft crews could survive without oxygen Dachau concentration camp § research for the German Air Force § to investigate the limits of human endurance and existence at extremely high altitudes § used a low-pressure chamber in which atmospheric conditions and pressures prevailing at high altitude (up to 68, 000 feet) could be duplicated § subjects were placed in the low-pressure chamber; the simulated altitude was raised § many victims died as a result of these experiments and others suffered grave injury

300/330 - appleby 10 Dachau Hypothermia Experiments § investigate the most effective means of treating persons who had been severely chilled or frozen § subjects were forced to remain in a tank of ice water for periods up to 3 hours § extreme rigor developed in a short time; many victims died § survivors were subject to rewarming attempts § other subjects were kept naked outdoors for many hours at temperatures below freezing

300/330 - appleby 11 Malaria Experiments February 1942 to April 1945 § experiments were conducted at the Dachau concentration camp § purpose: to investigate immunization for and treatment of malaria § healthy concentration-camp inmates infected by mosquitoes or by injections of extracts of the mucous glands of mosquitoes § subjects who contracted malaria were treated with various drugs to test their relative efficacy § over 1, 000 involuntary subjects were used in these experiments

300/330 - appleby 12 Mustard Gas Experiments September 1939 to April 1945 § experiments were conducted in concentration camps for the benefit of the German Armed Forces § to investigate the most effective treatment of wounds caused by mustard gas § wounds were deliberately inflicted on subjects, then infected with gas

300/330 - appleby 13 The Doctors Trial, held in Nuremberg, Germany, from 9 December 1946 to 20 August 1947

300/330 - appleby 14 24 defendants were charged with (1) crimes against peace, (2) war crimes, (3) crimes against humanity, and (4) conspiracy Representatives from the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and France acted as prosecutors and judges • Count #(3) included “medical experiments, without the subjects' consent, upon German civilians and nationals of other countries, in the course of which experiments the defendants committed murders, brutalities, cruelties, tortures, atrocities, and other inhuman acts” http: //www. ushmm. org/research/doctors/three. htm • 12 sentenced to death • 3 sentenced to life imprisonment • 4 sentenced to prison terms ranging from 10 to 20 years • 3 acquitted of charges • 2 committed suicide prior to the trial or before sentencing

300/330 - appleby 15 Defendants claimed that “no international law or informal statement differentiated between legal and illegal human experimentation. ” http: //www. ushmm. org/research/doctors/code_expl. htm Was it permissible to undertake medical experiments on human persons? “certain types of medical experiments on human beings. . . conform to the ethics of the medical profession generally. . . such experiments yield results for the good of society that are unprocurable by other methods or means of study. . . However. . . certain basic principles must be observed in order to satisfy moral, ethical and legal concepts” http: //www. ushmm. org/research/doctors/Nuremberg_Code. htm

300/330 - appleby 16 THE NUREMBERG CODE 1947 1. The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential. § § § legal capacity to give consent able to exercise free power of choice no force, fraud, deceit, duress, over-reaching, or other ulterior form of constraint or coercion sufficient knowledge and comprehension to make an understanding and enlightened decision • nature, duration, purpose of experiment • method & means of its conduct • inconveniences and hazards reasonably expected • effects upon health or person from participation personal responsibility for ensuring voluntary consent rests on every individual person involved in conducting the experiment

300/330 - appleby 17 http: //ohrp. osophs. dhhs. gov/irb_appendices. htm#j 5 3. The experiment should be such as to yield fruitful results for the good of society, unprocurable by other methods or means of study, and not random and unnecessary in nature. The experiment should be so designed and based on the results of animal experimentation and a knowledge of the natural history of the disease or other problem under study that the anticipated results will justify the performance of the experiment. 4. The experiment should be so conducted as to avoid all 2. unnecessary physical and mental suffering and injury. 5. No experiment should be conducted where there is an a priori reason to believe that death or disabling injury will occur; except, perhaps, in those experiments where the experimental physicians also serve as subjects

300/330 - appleby 18 http: //ohrp. osophs. dhhs. gov/irb_appendices. htm#j 5 6. The degree of risk to be taken should never exceed that determined by the humanitarian importance of the problem to be solved by the experiment. 7. Proper preparations should be made and adequate facilities provided to protect the experimental subject against even remote possibilities of injury, disability, or death. 8. The experiment should be conducted only by scientifically qualified persons. The highest degree of skill and care should be required through all stages of the experiment of those who conduct or engage in the experiment.

300/330 - appleby 19 http: //ohrp. osophs. dhhs. gov/irb_appendices. htm#j 5 9. During the course of the experiment the human subject should be at liberty to bring the experiment to an end if he has reached the physical or mental state where continuation of the experiment seemed to him to be impossible. 10. During the course of the experiment the scientist in charge must be prepared to terminate the experiment at any stage, if he has probable cause to believe, in the exercise of the good faith, superior skill and careful judgment required of him that a continuation of the experiment is likely to result in injury, disability, or death to the experimental subject.