Chapter 7: Human Experimentation |
Section 1. Case Study: Nazi Data What if data is gathered concerning human ailments, diseases and therapy for them but the data was gathered by highly questionable or morally repugnant means? Should the data be used or not? Would using it condone or accept the manner in which it was gathered? Would using it possibly encourage others to gather data in a similar way? Case Title: Josef Mengele and Experimentation on Human Twins at Auschwitz Description: Josef Mengele, aka Auschwitz's "Angel of Death", had a fascination with twins. As a physician at Auschwitz, he conducted 'genetic experiments" on nearly 1500 sets of twins between the years 1943 and 1944. Twins were kept in separate barracks and fed better then most prisoners to insure they would not fall ill or die. Twins undergoing his experiment didn't know what the objectives were. Mengele's experiments were performed without anesthesia, transfusion of blood from one twin to another, isolation endurance, reaction to various stimuli, injections with lethal germs, sex change operations, the removal of limbs and organs, incestuous impregnations. http://www.sturtevant.com/alex/mengele.htm http://www.modcult.brown.edu/students/angell/mengele.html http://www.gpc.peachnet.edu/~shale/humanities/composition/assignments/experiment/nazi.html How he escaped justice for many years: http://www.posner.com/articles/mengele.htm Experiments on Twins: http://www.history1900s.about.com/library/holocaust/aa112397.htm Resources on the Nazi DoctorsThe Nuremburg Trials
Documents
Other Resources
Photographs
The Legacy of the Nazi DoctorsBibliography
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