Medical Ethics: The Nuremberg Code

In 1947 the Nuremberg Laws were passed which are a set of ethical standards for human experimentation. They were produced as a result of a trial against several Naazi doctors who conducted experiments on prisoners during WWII. (Nuremberg Race Laws) Throughout history it has been apparent that if a person wants something they will do whatever they have to, to do it. This is applicable in HeLa with the scientists and their research. After the Nuremberg Laws were passed in 1947, scientists still injected people with Henrietta’s cancer cells despite the risks. In 1954, Chester Southam began to conduct experiments without patient consent to see whether or not injections of HeLa cells could cause cancer. This and other experiments led to the term, informed consent. This term appeared in court in 1957. Informed consent means that the doctor informs the patient of all the procedures and risks involved as well as anything else the doctor plans to do. Along with this the patient understands and agrees to everything that is going to happen. Actions against Southam and another researcher named Mandel made people more aware of how patients were being abused. In 1965, the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York found Southam and Mandel guilty of unprofessional conduct and called for stricter guidelines regarding human research subjects

First, they created the Nuremberg Code to set laws of experimentation. For example, it says ,” But the Nuremberg Code - like other codes that would come after it - wasn't law. It was a list of recommendations.” Another example, it says,” Those who did not know about it often thought of it as “ The Nazi Code, “ something that applied to barbarians and dictators, not to American doctors.” These pieces of textual evidence show how the Nuremberg Code was a list of recommendations that only applied to barbarians and dictators but wasn't law in the U.S.

She describes how Nazi Doctors would conduct horrendous experiments on Jews, such as dissecting living people, without receiving any consent from them. She then explains that the Nuremberg code was later established to prevent such inhumane experiments. Since the code didn’t apply in America, researches like Southam and Mandel continued their experiments without informed consent. However, other doctors still found this to be immoral, and refused to participate in performing these experiments finding that, “Injecting cancer cells into a person without consent was a clear violation of basic human rights and Nuremberg code” (Skloot 132). Skloot compares the practice of American doctors to the inhumane experiments conducted on the Jews in Germany to have the readers see similarity between the immoral methods. Both practices did not receive consent from their patients. She uses research to find factual evidence about practices without consent that were made illegal in another country. By comparing the experiments conducted by American doctors to an extreme event, she leads the reader to develop the opinion that all practices without the consent of the patient are unjust. She includes the opinions of medical professionals to express their concern for these methods to the readers. A doctor from that time would have the greatest insight on the experiments that were being conducted and the practicality of them. The reader then sees it as logical that conducting potentially dangerous experiments without any consent is a violation of human rights.

We were willing and enthusiastic participants in the events of the Third Reich. We sterilized disabled German citizens. We decided who would marry and who would not marry. We euthanized German children and adults whose lives were "not worth living." We designed the gas chambers for mass murder -- and we were on the ramps making selections. We were there.

It was formed as the result of Nazi cruelty( Polit & Beck,p.81).This code states that the human subjects must be provided information about the purpose, process ,reasonable risks of the experiment and their voluntary consent is crucial before the conduction of the study (HHS,2005) .In Tuskegee study, there was no evidence of informed consent from the participants .One of the principle from the code explains that the experiment must give good results for the society .By 1969 ,almost 100 men died from the complications of syphilis which does not relate to the ethical principle(Jones,p.2). The study must be conducted depending upon the results of animal experiments according to Nuremberg Code whereas there was no any initial animal experiment done before the Tuskegee Syphilis Study to determine the effects of untreated syphilis. The code also describes that the experiment should avoid unwanted physical and mental distress. Also, no any experiment should be conducted if there is a reason that death or injury might occur. The men in the Tuskegee study went through pain from syphilis. The researchers knew that if syphilis was not treated ,death might occur but they kept untreated .This clearly shows that The Tuskegee Syphilis Study avoided the ethical principles of Nuremberg Code even after it was available by 1947

My 2018 Spring Break was better than usual and began with a great start. For this Spring Break, I went on a Road Trip to visit different college campuses on the northern side of California, a place I had never been to. I went with my program called, LACC Upward Bound that included 34 other students. I did not attend this trip alone and this was great because my friends got to come along on this great experience with me. Arriving to Northern California took about 4- 5 hours and during this drive I took this picture. It is so different from Los Angeles, everything is much greener, beautiful and natural. Our first location was Santa Cruz and the college we visited was UC Santa Cruz. On our way there, I saw many animals like cows, horses, sheeps,

The Nuremberg Doctor’s trial of 1946 involves human experimentation performed by the Nazi doctors. These physicians were accused of conducting torturous “experiments” with concentration camp inmates. During these studies, physicians conducted treatments that were not permitted and caused severe injuries to the participants, and in some cases, participants died as a result of this. Prisoners were left to freeze to study more on hypothermia. Later, during December 9th, 1946 to August 20th, 1947 representatives establish a Nuremberg trial to prosecuted these doctors for the atrocities that they committed and 23 out 15 were found guilty. As a result, the Nuremberg code was created to

Tens of thousands of people have been tortured, killed, or experimented on for unfair and unjust reasons. Some of the people didn’t sign up for what they thought it was and were manipulated into the situations. Others were forced upon the inhuman cruelties that no person should ever have to endeavor. Without the Nuremberg Code, tons of unethical experiments were being conducted. The Nuremberg Code is a very important document in regulating all scientific research for the better of humans now, and in the future.

Professionals in every field are always confronted with some kind of ethical issues. It has however been noted that these ethical issues become high in magnitude and extent when public officials are involved. Due to the involvement of human life, an industry like healthcare holds ethics in highest regard. Even though these healthcare practitioners are highly trained to deal with issues of these kinds, their decisions can sometimes have a lasting impact on their professional and personal lives (Edwards 2009).

Children and their families that are involved in foster care go through a great deal. It is not only tough on the children, but also the people around them, such as their birth parents, and their foster parents that are caring for them, either temporarily or sometimes permanently. Catherine Lewis discusses the best way to help children and their families in foster care get through their difficulties using an approach that has to do with their relationships with each other, called the systemic-relational approach. Her article is a literature review called, “Providing Therapy to Children and Families in Foster Care: A Systemic-Relational Approach Literature review The article works as a guide for therapists who are helping children in foster care, or families that are involved in foster care (Lewis, 2011). Many children who go through the foster care system have postplacement trauma, so one of the goals of this article is to discuss how to decrease the likelihood or severity of postplacement trauma. Another goal is to strengthen the bonds between the family, and repair their relationships using systemic-relational therapy. Article wants to direct therapists on how to help families that are involved in foster care to succeed (Lewis, 2011).

The Nuremberg Doctors Trial of 1946 is the preeminent case recognizing the importance of medical ethics and human rights specifically about human research subjects. The defendants in the trials include Nazi leadership, physicians, and investigators prosecuted for conducting unethical and inhumane medical experiments on civilians and prisoners of war resulting in extreme pain, suffering, permanent injury and often death. The Nuremberg Code, borne of these trials, establishes ethical guidelines for human experimentation to ensure the rights of subjects in medical research. Herein, this writer will first identify and discuss ethical dilemmas presented in the Nuremberg case followed by three

The art of medicine and curing diseases was not always approached in a scientific way. In fact, many advances occurred between 1919 to 1939, after technological advances allowed scientists to apply the scientific method to medical research. At this time, the ethics of using patients as test subjects either for new medicines or as samples for further testing were not considered. An extreme example of this was the Nazi’s using concentration camp inmates – including children – to run painful and invasive experiments. More modern examples are not so easy to identify as unethical, however. While amputating a leg to develop methods to deal with fractures and war wounds is obviously unethical, harvesting cells to develop a vaccine is not so clear cut, as the disadvantage to the patient is hard to identify. Coming from the various Nazi testing and especially the Nuremberg testing and trials, another code of ethics was developed, called the Nuremberg Code.

The Nuremberg Laws, created September 15, 1935, were rooted in the idea of Nazi eugenics; to biologically “improve” the population into achieving the Master race that Hitler envisioned. These laws would ensure that any mixing of German and Jewish blood would cease and

The essay will discuss the ETHICS IN MEDICINE : The Relationship Between Law and Medical Ethics:

Mahatma Gandhi once proclaimed, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” Serving others, more commonly known as volunteering, means to freely offer to do something out of the kindness of one’s heart. From helping serve at a local food shelter to going on a mission trip to Costa Rica, there are a variety of serving opportunities around every corner. For centuries, service has shown its importance through a plethora of benefits to both the individual and the world. Individuals who dedicate their time to serve find career opportunities, uncover life passions, and learn character traits that develop them into a valuable member of society in order to benefit to the greater good.