Dr. Stacy Gallin, DMH is founder of the Maimonides Institute for Medicine, Ethics, and the Holocaust, and works in the Medical Humanities field, focusing on the philosophy of psychiatry, bioethics and the Holocaust, with attention to various ways to remedy the healthcare system in America. Gallin’s course syllabus focuses on the state of biomedical ethics in World War II, noting how the Holocaust is a unique example of medically sanctioned genocide. The biomedical ethics established during the Third Reich remain relevant for current medical and scientific practice. Gallin notes: “Eugenics, disability studies, end-of-life care, genetic testing, and human experimentation are all topics that are vital to the history as well as the future of bioethics. Exploring the pivotal role played by science and medicine in the labeling, persecution, and eventual mass murder of those deemed ‘unfit’ is essential to preventing other instances of human rights abuses in modern society.”
Purpose:
This course will focus on the abrogation of biomedical ethics in World War II Germany, demonstrating how the Holocaust is a unique example of medically sanctioned genocide. The biomedical ethical considerations brought to light as a result of the alliance between medicine and the Nazis remain relevant for current medical and scientific practice. Eugenics, disability studies, end-of-life care, genetic testing, and human experimentation are all topics that are vital to the history as well as the future of bioethics. Exploring the pivotal role played by science and medicine in the labeling, persecution, and eventual mass murder of those deemed “unfit” is essential to preventing other instances of human rights abuses in modern society.
Objectives:
Bioethics and the Holocaust: An Introduction
Eugenics: The Pseudo-Scientific Foundations of Genocide
The International Eugenics Movement
The Biological State: Eugenics in Germany
German Medicine and the Nazi Doctors
A Method Behind the Madness: How Nazi Ideology Became National Policy
Euthanasia and The Final Solution
Nazi Medical Experiments
Nazi Medical Experiments Debate
The Nuremberg Trial: The Birth of Bioethics
Current Ethical Implications: Beginning of Life Care, Current Ethical Implications: End of Life Care
Medicine After the Holocaust: The Future of Bioethics