BMJ 1996;313:1413-1415 (7 December)

Editorials

War crimes and medical science

Not unique to one place or time; they could happen here

Fifty years ago in Nuremberg, Germany, 23 physicians and scientists stood trial for war crimes committed before and during the second world war. The medical trial, and its more famous predecessor, the international military tribunal,1 have left us with defining statements of ethical principle. But, as several articles in this anniversary issue of the BMJ make clear, the records of these trials have also left us with a legacy we still shrink from confronting.

The decision to hold the trials in Nuremberg was made for practical and symbolic reasons. Germany was in ruins, and, although the city had received substantial shelling, Hitler's Palace of Justice had survived largely unscathed. Imposing and capacious, it included large courtrooms and an adjoining prison. The city's symbolic value derived from its prominence as Hitler's administrative and judicial offices and as the site for . . . [Full text of this article]


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This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Clarfield, A. M. (2006). Nazi Medicine and the Nuremberg Trials: From Medical War Crimes to Informed Consent. JAMA 295: 2668-2669 [Full text]  
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  • Manasse, H. R. Jr. (2005). The other side of the human genome. Am J Health Syst Pharm 62: 1080-1086 [Full text]  
  • Huston, P., Peterson, R. (2001). Withholding Proven Treatment in Clinical Research. NEJM 345: 912-914 [Full text]  
  • Doyal, L. (1997). Informed consent in medical research: Journals should not publish research to which patients have not given fully informed consent–with three exceptions. BMJ 314: 1107-1107 [Abstract] [Full text]  
  • Ernst, E, Thomson, H. J, Nicholson, G., Osborne, K, Pemberton, J., Baron, J H, Hannah, M., Preston, H. (1997). The BMJ's Nuremberg issue. BMJ 314: 439-439 [Full text]  
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