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Nazi doctors conducted dozens of medical and
other experiments on concentration-camp inmates, who often died as a direct
result of the studies.
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Results of Death-Camp Experiments: Should They Be Used?
During World War II, Nazi doctors and scientists performed a series of medical
and other experiments on concentration-camp inmates. They undertook
these studies without consent of the patients, who were often left maimed or
dead at the end of the ordeal. If you're unfamiliar with the death-camp
experiments, take a moment to read about them.
Few today would disagree about denouncing the Nazi experimenters as barbaric
and their experiments as little more than sadistic torture executed under the
guise of science. As such, many feel that findings from those studies should
never be published or used. However, some of the research resulted in data that
potentially could save lives today. Nazi hypothermia studies, for instance,
have been cited in the medical literature for decades, and recently several
scientists have sought to use the data in their own work.
You will be asked the following question eight times: "Based on what you now know,
do you think doctors and scientists should be able to use data from Nazi death-camp
experiments?" Each time, you must answer Yes or No to that question, and each time
you will get a different counterargument meant to challenge your decision. Before
answering the question for the eighth and final time, you may elect to read all 14
counterarguments—seven for and seven against using the data—before making your
final decision. At that point, you may choose
Yes, No, or Undecided.
You will find sources for each numbered reference found in this feature in a list at
the bottom of the page in question; "hot" names in that list link to a general
bibliography of books and articles
consulted for this feature. Please note that many quotes in this feature are years if
not decades old, and affiliations and other facts about quoted individuals may have changed.
Yes |
No
Photo: Courtesy of the U.S. Government Printing Office
The Director's Story |
Timeline of Nazi Abuses
Results of Death-Camp Experiments: Should They Be Used?
Exposing Flawed Science |
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