Auschwitz: The Ethical Use Of Nazi Medical Experiments

During World War II, the Holocaust was taking place, German doctors performed a number of unethical medical experiments in order to advance in medicine, these crimes were committed against individuals, without consent. Recently, I read Auschwitz: A Doctor’s Eyewitness Account, a novel written by Dr. Miklos Nyiszli, the information documented in the novel was difficult to digest due to the truly horrendous experiments performed in the camps, it led me to think about the violation of humankind for the sake of medicine. The use of Nazi experimental records continues to be a popular debate in today's medical field, countless of innocent lives were lost due to medical experiments conducted, leading to numerous inquiries on whether or not that data should be utilized to further improve the medical field. The most controversial study with regards to requests to use the data has been Dr. Sigmund Rascher’s hypothermia experiment. Rascher’s performed a series of experiments to test the human body’s resistance to cold, he would “immerse prisoners (at least 300 of them) in ice baths or force them to stay outside naked in the cold Polish winter, where temperatures routinely dropped below freezing” (Bogod). Most prisoners were left in these conditions until they died, they then took measurements on body temperature changes, how
Many doctors and researchers have positive intentions for the data's use, however, the use of the data deeply relies based on how it is utilized , meaning the research is done with purpose to benefit everyone. Since the Nuremberg trials, the data obtained from the Nazi experiments has been available to scientists, several believe that just because the data was collected in an unethical manner, it automatically is labeled as incorrect or useless (Gilliam) where as it could have the potential to save lives if manipulated the right