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Establishing Christian Ethical Guidelines for the Use of Nazi Human Subject Research Data

June 20, 2015
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The horrors of the Holocaust are well documented and a fixture in the contemporary moral conscience. Among the many atrocities committed are the unethical medical experiments in which human subjects were exposed to harsh conditions and killed; sometimes incidentally, sometimes deliberately. After the end of World War II and the discovery of these heinous acts, many of the Nazi researchers were put on trial in Nuremberg. Their harsh methods and disregard for their human subjects inspired the Nuremberg Code, a landmark document in the history of research ethics. Despite this clear response to the Nazi war crimes by the medical and scientific community that such research was unacceptable, data from these unethical experiments was collected and has been published, cited, and used in the advancement of medical science. This is an unsettling thought that provokes the important ethical question of whether the Nazi human subject research data should have been acquired and used in this way. This discussion need not remain hypothetical, localized to a historical moment when the victorious Allies could have discarded the data. Rather, the “should” question, once explored, can provide the necessary starting point before considering how to respond to the present and future use of unethically obtained data. Briefly, the conclusions reached regarding the Nazi data must provide guidance on how that data should and should not be used (if it should be used at all) and what precedent this sets for research ethics in general. First, the record of the Nazi experimental abuses will be summarized, focusing on the military science research. The positions of several ethicists, researchers, and Jewish commentators will be considered, seeking to represent some of the nuances and specifications present within the diverse dialogue, while consolidating the arguments into the broader themes that each touches upon. While evaluating these arguments on their own merits, a Christian theological perspective will be developed, taking into account some key concepts missing from the general debate. This perspective will seek to answer the big “should” question while also speaking into the unique role an ethically minded Christian should play in the debate.

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