Bad Medicine: Nazi Experimentation

In this excerpt, I found the apparent disregard for morals and compassion very interesting. There was only one instance mentioned in which Dr. Rascher showed any regret or sorrow for the terrible things he was doing. To me, this raised the question: How does a person become so numb to feelings that should be so basic to humanity? Any number of childhood traumas or strange ways of being brought up could have contributed to Rascher's unusual lack of feeling for the pain and suffering of other human beings.
This seems to be a common theme among the minds of the mad doctors we have studied. Many medical advances were made under the pretense of studies that were "for the greater good." This frame of mind seems to help our mad doctors push away any reservations about using the lives of other humans in such a disposable way. It seems necessary, in order to be a mad doctor, to be numb to many of the feelings that a "normal" human being might feel. Dr. Rascher is a prime example of the willingness of mad doctors to go beyond what others feel is right. He was blinded to the horror of his crimes by his obsession with his studies and discoveries.
At the same time, it seems particularly outlandish that Dr. Rascher spent so much of his time replicating experiments that resulted in the death of a patient. He not only was willing to throw away a life for the sake of science, but he wanted to repeat these deadly experiments over and over again. This, to me, suggests that Dr. Rascher had possibly gone beyond the point of just making sacrifices for science. This suggests that he began to find a certain amount of satisfaction in his morbid work. Perhaps the element of power, in this case it was over other humans, came into play and became addictive for Rascher.