Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Nuremberg Code

  • The Doctors’ Trial and the Nuremberg Code

    Shabrina JarrellCharleston, West Virginia, United States Tracing back to the Hippocratic Oath, which dates to around 400 BC, the principle of autonomy has been fundamental to the concept of informed consent.1,2 The Oath, a pledge historically taken by physicians, outlines several guarding principles of medical ethics. Although it did not specifically mention informed consent, it…

  • The Montreal Experiments: Brainwashing and the ethics of psychiatric experimentation

    Shaan BhambraMontreal, Canada “We do not merely destroy our enemies; we change them.”1– George Orwell, 1984 In the aftermath of World War II, the race to become the dominant world power motivated both the United States and the USSR to strive for influence, power, and military strength. In the mid-twentieth century, the brewing Cold War…