Nazi Experimentation: They Knew What They Were Doing..

Something that struck me as odd while reading the article "Nazi Medical Experiments" was that at least one of the individuals clearly knew what he was doing was morally wrong.  The rest of the individuals investigated at Nuremberg were able to come up with excuses saying that while they knew what they were doing was unethical, since they were doing it for "the greater good" of mankind, then it was okay.  Some of the medical experiments that went on during this time period were just sickening.  What I don't understand fully is why none of the doctors executing these experiments were willing to come forward and say that what they were doing was clearly morally wrong.  I understand that they were under pressure from the state, but still there were clear examples of doctors knowing that what they were doing was immoral, yet they continued to conduct terminal experiments on their fellow man. What I did like about the article, however, was the results of the Nuremberg Trials and the various ethics legislations that came out of it.  The fact that now therapeutic treatment and overall patient health is primary is certainly a good outcome. Also, the fact that all patients must have informed consent is also important. The only facet of this that worries me still is mentioned in the final part of the article, where it mentions that when the in the doctors view informed consent will negatively affect the patients health.  This still leaves a loophole in which certain experiments on humans may still continue to go on.  Overall new ethics laws definitely help decrease negative experimentation, but this loophole worries me none the less.

Henry Weyand