Cause and Effect
Neglecting Responsibilities
The Nuremberg Trials brought to light the atrocities committed during WWII. During the Nuremberg Doctors’ trials General Taylor, the chief prosecutor, presented his case against 23 Nazi physicians and scientists who conducted torturous experiments on concentration camp victims often resulting in death. Presented in their defense, many of the German scientists saw their work as beneficial for the survival of the German society and the good of the German people and therefor saw nothing wrong in what they did. The judges could not understand how educated professionals who supposedly dedicated their lives to protecting life could have treated human beings in such a way. They rejected their defense and many were found guilty.
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Documents used by Prosecution at Nuremberg Trial
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In an excerpt of his Opening Statement, Taylor proposes that the doctors on trial disregarded their responsibilities as physicians in their treatment of the subjects under their care. - National Archives Moving Images |
Setting Things Right
In response to this trial, a set of ethical standards for human research, called The Nuremberg codes, were developed. Based on what the judges had heard during the trial, and the advice of the American physicians serving as consultants, the judges came up with a ten point code that governs human experimentation that is considered the basis of American Bioethics. These Codes are significant because they outline basic rights of patients and safer methods of experimentation. They also present the responsibilities of doctors and researchers to experiment safely and care for their patients.
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Nuremberg Codes | |
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