Torture And Medical Ethics In Research During World War II

I. Medical Torture and Medical Ethics in Research During World War II, unethical human experimentation occurred and was performed by the Nazi doctors to thousands of prisoners. Human experimentation caused problems particularly the increasing employment of patients' use as experimental subjects for research, which has eventually led to ethical dilemmas. Hundreds of patients are not aware of the participation, and do not participate if the patients are fully informed1, this occurrence is known as medical torture. Medical torture refers to the instigation of medical procedures to inflict physical and mental pain on patients without consent, such as forcing a person to become subjects in dangerous studies; suffering, enduring excruciating pain

Medical ethics provide a framework that protects human rights, respects persons' autonomy against harmful situations, and sets moral principles and values for health professionals, medical practices, and institutional guides3,4. The book by Beauchamp and Childress, published in 1977 entitled “Principles of Biomedical Ethics” discusses and elaborates the four (4) main principles that serve as ethical guidelines in healthcare and research such as (1) Respect for autonomy— individuals have the right to act freely and independently according to personal goals and choices; (2) Nonmaleficence— an obligation and oath not to inflict harm to others, and known for “Above all, do no harm”; (3) Beneficence— refers to the general moral obligation to treat persons ethically not only respecting equitable, and appropriate distribution of benefits and burdens determined by norms that structure the terms of social cooperation” 3,4. History of Medical Torture in World War II to the Present Nazi Experimentation on Humans (1939-1945) The Nazi experimentation on humans is the most tragic and brutal assault against medical