Thoughts after reading Robert Jay Lifton's 'The Nazi Doctors'
by
Bruwer A.
Med War. 1989 Oct-Dec;5(4):185-96.

ABSTRACT

Robert Jay Lifton's remarkable book The Nazi Doctors and its tragic subject matter provided an opportunity to try and place the complicity of doctors in such barbarity in historical perspective. Massive episodes of killing of human beings by other human beings have been an ongoing saga for centuries. Misguided belief and misguided science, and the abuse of constantly advancing technology in the name of one or other nation-state, have made possible the acceleration of megadeath. The Nazi concentration and death camps were a particularly vicious manifestation within the spectrum of killing. Modern weaponry makes omnicide quite feasible. Our urgent need is to learn the lesson and to cultivate and promote planetary patriotism as promptly as possible. Adherence to an international code of human ethics is a compelling requirement. The origin of the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1863 was an inspiring and promising beginning. The formulation of the Declaration of Geneva by the World Medical Association in 1947 profoundly enhanced the value of the Hippocratic Oath and provides a sound ethical basis for the national and international guidance of the medical profession today. The International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War establishes another firm step in the right direction.

Ernst Rüdin
Eugenics talk
Eugenic abortion
Psychiatric genetics
Selecting potential children
Psychiatry in the Third Reich
Human dignity in the Nazi era
The origin of the principle of informed consent
Gene therapy and performance enhancement
Preimplantation genetics and stem cell therapy
The commercialisation of pre-natal enhancement

Refs
and further reading

HOME
Resources
Wireheading
BLTC Research
nootropic.com
Superhappiness?
Utopian Surgery?
The Good Drug Guide
The Abolitionist Project
The Hedonistic Imperative
The Reproductive Revolution
MDMA: Utopian Pharmacology
Critique of Huxley's Brave New World