The Creation of the Nuremberg Code: Authorship and Legacy
| Author(s) | Ramirez, Nicholas | |
| Date Accessioned | 2022-07-22T14:47:15Z | |
| Date Available | 2022-07-22T14:47:15Z | |
| Publication Date | 2022-05 | |
| Abstract | In response to Nazi human experimentation crimes, the judges of the American Military Tribunal included a section on “Permissible Medical Experiments” in their final opinion of the “Doctor’s Trial” of 1947. This section stated ten ethical points on the subject of human experimentation, a list of principles that became internationally recognized as the Nuremberg Code. This thesis explores two of the Code’s most debated historical questions: Who should be accredited authorship of its ethical principles? And what was the document’s legacy? Detailed analysis of trial script, testimony, and memoranda shows that the judges and medical experts of the trial shared authorship of the Code. Additionally, years of past Western medical conversation also inspired the creation of the principles. The narrative of authorship reveals how American liberalism influenced the authors of the Code and allowed them to recognize the documents potential for international impact. During and after the trial, the United States government promoted the principles of the Code. This was done in accordance with postwar U.S. foreign policy, which aimed to establish the U.S. as a leader in the new liberal world order. But despite newfound international moral authority, the United States largely ignored the Nuremberg Code for decades after its inception. In the years after the war, U.S. government agencies sponsored numerous unethical human experiments. These studies dealt with nonconsensual exposure to radiation, syphilis, and psychoactive drugs. In light of this hypocrisy, this thesis offers a balanced interpretation of legacy. While it features America’s disregard for the Code during the Cold War, it recognizes the Code’s important international legacy that still serves as a beacon for medical ethics and human rights today. | en_US |
| Advisor | James Brophy | |
| Program | History | |
| URL | https://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/31148 | |
| Publisher | University of Delaware | en_US |
| Keywords | Nuremberg Code | en_US |
| Keywords | Authorship | en_US |
| Keywords | Ethics policy | en_US |
| Keywords | Human rights | en_US |
| Keywords | American liberalism | en_US |
| Title | The Creation of the Nuremberg Code: Authorship and Legacy | en_US |
| Type | Thesis | en_US |