The Nuremberg Code

The Nuremberg Code
Dr. John Campbell
Sep 13, 2023
On human experiments, (1947). Doctors on trial, for crimes against humanity.

https://research.unc.edu/human-research-ethics/resources/ccm3_019064/
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-nuremberg-code

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/nazi-medical-experiments

Medical Case: US prosecutor details illegal experiments

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Medical professionals on trial, after war for war crimes and crimes against humanity

Including experiments on prisoners in the camp system.

Doctors and nurses, participated in the killing of physically and mentally impaired Germans

German doctors argued

"Doctors Trial." 1946

Trials of War Criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals under Control Council Law No. 10. Nuremberg October 1946 – April 1949

Their experiments differed little from those conducted before the war by German and American scientists.

No international law or informal statement differentiated between legal and illegal human experimentation.

“Permissible Medical Experiments.”

Washington. U.S. Government Printing Office (n.d.), vol. 2., pp. 181-182.

One

The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential.

This means that the person involved should have legal capacity to give consent;

should be situated as to be able to exercise free power of choice,

without the intervention of any element of force, fraud, deceit, duress, over-reaching, or other ulterior form of constraint or coercion,

and should have sufficient knowledge and comprehension of the elements of the subject matter involved as to enable him to make an understanding and enlightened decision.

Before the acceptance of an affirmative decision,

subject should know the nature, duration, and purpose of the experiment;

the method and means by which it is to be conducted;

all inconveniences and hazards reasonably to be expected;

and the effects upon his health or person which may possibly come from his participation in the experiment.

The duty and responsibility for ascertaining the quality of the consent rests upon each individual who initiates, directs or engages in the experiment.

It is a personal duty and responsibility which may not be delegated to another with impunity.

Two

The experiment should yield fruitful results for the good of society,

unprocurable by other methods,

and not random and unnecessary in nature.

Three

The experiment should be based on the results of animal experimentation,

a knowledge of the natural history of the disease or other problem,

the anticipated results will justify the performance of the experiment.

Four

The experiment should avoid all unnecessary physical and mental suffering and injury.

Five

No experiment should be conducted where there is an a priori reason to believe that death or disabling injury will occur;

except, perhaps, in those experiments where the experimental physicians also serve as subjects.

Six

The degree of risk should never exceed,

that determined by the humanitarian importance,

of the problem to be solved by the experiment.

Seven

Proper preparations should be made,

and adequate facilities provided,

to protect the experimental subject against even remote possibilities of injury disability or death.

Eight

The experiment should be conducted only by scientifically qualified persons.

The highest degree of skill and care should be required through all stages of the experiment

Nine

During the course of the experiment the human subject should be at liberty to bring the experiment to an end

Ten

During the course of the experiment the scientist in charge must be prepared to terminate the experiment at any stage,

that continuation of the experiment is likely to result in injury, disability, or death to the experimental subject.

Transcript

Follow along using the transcript.

Transcript
0:01
well it's Wednesday the 19th of
0:03
September and a warm welcome to this
0:05
video now today's subject couldn't be
0:08
more serious it's about the Nuremberg
0:11
code of 1947.
0:13
during the second world war of course
0:15
many atrocities were committed
0:18
and a certain group of atrocities were
0:21
experimentation on human beings
0:25
deeply evil Acts
0:28
now um my life kind of changed a bit
0:30
really when I went to this Villa here
0:33
this is the uh the vancy conference
0:36
Villa
0:37
and on the 20th of January 1942
0:40
Reinhardt heydrich and Adolf weichmann
0:43
and cronies
0:45
met here in this beautiful setting near
0:48
Berlin to work out what they
0:50
euphemistically called the final
0:52
solution and this whole Villa now uh in
0:55
in immensely good taste it has to be
0:57
said but very distressingly
0:59
has been converted into a uh
1:02
Memorial stroke museum for victims of a
1:06
human experimentation
1:08
now I'm not going to show you the
1:10
material that I photographed it in there
1:13
but if you do get the chance to visit as
1:15
I say life-changing experience Nuremberg
1:18
code
1:19
based on 10 points
1:22
the first one
1:24
um all people that are experimented on
1:28
in human experimentation and this is
1:30
sometimes necessary we think about
1:31
randomized double-blind control trials
1:33
for example
1:34
but they must enter it with complete
1:37
free will it must be utterly voluntary
1:41
and they must have complete informed
1:43
consent to know what they're doing
1:45
an alarm pick some of the details on
1:47
that later but free will inform consent
1:51
people must know what they're getting
1:52
into unambiguously
1:55
second point
1:57
the human experiment must be the only
2:00
way to get the information and that
2:02
information must be worthwhile
2:04
it must be worth getting that
2:07
information
2:09
and it must be based third Point must be
2:11
based on previous knowledge possibly
2:13
animal experimentation which we could
2:15
debate about as a separate
2:17
ethical issue of course but based on the
2:19
best available site so this is not just
2:21
some sort of leap into the dark some
2:24
completely oh I don't know completely
2:27
untested technology for example they
2:29
were experimenting on millions of people
2:31
with it must be based on the best
2:33
available science and previous knowledge
2:36
with full experimentation getting up to
2:39
that stage
2:40
fourthly it must avoid unnecessarily any
2:43
unnecessary suffering
2:46
there must be no unnecessary suffering
2:48
in human experimentation
2:51
not saying there should be zero
2:52
suffering but it shouldn't be
2:53
unnecessary but of course it's all
2:55
entered into completely voluntarily
2:58
I've had experiments to know me at work
3:00
but I've volunteered to to go into it a
3:03
physiological calibration of instruments
3:05
for example have been done on me when I
3:08
was ill and fit
3:10
um fifth Point death will not occur
3:13
there must be no reason to expect that
3:15
subjects will die
3:18
now there is a caveat here that the
3:20
experimenting doctor may choose to
3:22
experiment on himself and if he dies
3:24
then that's his informed consent but
3:26
apart from that death will not
3:28
occur certainly not to the subjects
3:32
sixth point though the risk that is
3:35
taken must be proportional to the
3:37
potential benefit and the outcome that
3:39
comes from the experiment
3:41
so this has got to be a reasonably
3:43
expected beneficial outcome which is
3:45
proportional
3:47
to the risk which has been taken
3:49
there must be anticipation of any
3:52
possible injuries or deaths
3:55
even if this is a remote possibility
3:57
this must be anticipated in other words
3:59
people carrying out human
4:01
experimentation must think ahead
4:03
must anticipate what could possibly go
4:07
wrong here
4:09
has this always been done in the time
4:11
period since 1947
4:14
is up to your interpretation
4:18
eighthly the research must be conducted
4:20
and closely supervised by proper doctors
4:23
and scientists so it's not take this
4:26
experimental treatment off you go live
4:29
your life as normal
4:31
I might see if there's a problem but no
4:33
no it has to be closely properly
4:36
supervised
4:38
either relevant to experts in the field
4:42
ninthly
4:44
the subject May opt out at any time
4:48
so this subject can say nope had enough
4:50
of this I'm opting out forget it walk
4:52
away at any time completely free to do
4:55
so
4:56
and the tenth point is the doctors
4:58
scientists conducting the research must
5:00
be prepared to terminate the research
5:03
if they think there is a significant or
5:05
realistic risk of unacceptable levels of
5:08
harm
5:09
to the individual being experimented on
5:14
so that's the Nuremberg code of
5:16
1947. now I am going to post the the
5:19
whole thing for your perusal I think
5:21
we'll have to just have a quick look
5:22
through
5:23
some of the main points now on the
5:26
overhead
5:27
so this is a Nuremberg code 1947 it's in
5:30
many historical documents
5:32
it was doctors on trial doctors and
5:35
nurses after the war
5:37
and it's frightening to think that in a
5:40
relatively modern sophisticated country
5:42
doctors and nurses collaborated
5:46
with the elimination
5:49
of human beings other human beings
5:53
thought were substandard and deserve to
5:55
be eliminated the doctors and nurses
5:58
could
5:59
actively take part in this because they
6:02
were told to
6:03
is simply terrifying
6:06
doctors and nurses do what they're told
6:10
it would appear in this situation to the
6:13
point of ending the lives of
6:16
other
6:17
people
6:20
this comes from the uh German doctors
6:22
trial 1946 now the doctors argued it's
6:25
all this is this is the codes here you
6:27
can look them up for yourself I'll put
6:28
some references in
6:30
um that their experiments were no
6:31
different from those that had been
6:32
conducted before and there was no law
6:34
anyway so they could do what they wanted
6:36
that was their argument so as a result
6:38
of this the permissible experiments
6:40
permissible medical experiments were
6:42
drawn up by this Nuremberg code part of
6:45
the Nuremberg Trial process after the
6:46
second world war published by the
6:48
American government in this document
6:52
here's the first point voluntary consent
6:54
of the human subject was essential
6:57
they have to have legal capacity to give
6:59
consent
7:00
so people that don't have capacity
7:02
cannot be experimented on
7:05
they should have free uh completely free
7:08
to exercise personal choice
7:11
without any intervention element of
7:13
force fraud deceit duress overreaching
7:16
and all the legal Safeguard languages
7:18
that are included there must be no
7:20
coercion
7:22
they must have sufficient knowledge to
7:24
give informed consent
7:26
understanding an enlightened decision
7:28
before they say yes to anything
7:31
they should know the nature duration and
7:34
purpose of the experiment they should
7:36
know the methods all inconveniences and
7:39
hazards that can be reasonably expected
7:40
and other adverse effects should be made
7:43
clear
7:44
before the start of the experiment
7:46
before they decide
7:48
if they want to cooperate
7:51
this must be open clear and above board
7:55
full information can be given
7:58
and part of the reason I'm angry is
8:01
because I wasn't given full information
8:05
in some events that have occurred over
8:08
the past few years
8:11
by people that should have given me full
8:13
information
8:14
over the past few years
8:19
how can you make an informed decision
8:21
without full disclosure by those leaders
8:26
that have power over us
8:33
the duty and responsibility of the
8:35
person conducting the experiment
8:42
it's a personal Duty they have to do
8:43
that themselves they can't delegate it
8:45
to someone else second the experimentary
8:47
dude you'd yield to fruitful results
8:51
can't get it by other means not some
8:54
random hair brained idea
8:59
it doesn't actually say there shouldn't
9:01
be a financial motive in the Nuremberg
9:03
code
9:04
but maybe we should add that as Point 11
9:06
there should be no Financial motive by
9:08
the experimenter on those being
9:10
experimented on
9:13
to make money out of people being
9:14
experimented on
9:16
that is so appalling it didn't even seem
9:18
to be considered in 1947.
9:20
this was ideological rather than
9:22
financial
9:26
but to me it goes without saying that
9:28
people should not be experimented on for
9:30
others
9:32
to make money out of
9:35
0.3 experiment should be based on
9:38
previous experimentation with full
9:40
knowledge not some hair brained idea
9:42
that we simply don't know what the
9:44
outcomes will be if we have full
9:46
knowledge and we're just building the
9:48
next stage
9:49
then we're more likely to get it right
9:51
than if it's a completely new
9:53
idea
9:58
four the experiment should avoid
9:59
unnecessary harm and suffering
10:02
five no experiments should be conducted
10:04
if there's an a priori reason
10:07
believing death or disabled disability
10:10
disabling injury will occur except
10:12
perhaps
10:13
where the experimenter themselves takes
10:15
that risk upon themselves and there are
10:18
many noble examples of
10:19
self-experimenters in history John
10:21
Hunter
10:22
famously uh infected himself with um
10:25
uh sexually transmitted puss
10:29
to work out the nature of those form of
10:32
diseases
10:33
Barry Marshall infected himself with
10:36
helica back to pylori to demonstrate the
10:38
effectiveness of his eradication therapy
10:40
and went on to save Untold millions of
10:43
well he does know this has several
10:45
Billion Lives from peptic ulceration
10:49
0.6 the degree of risk should never
10:51
exceed that determined by the importance
10:54
of the problem to be solved the
10:56
proportionality
10:58
uh proper preparation should be made and
11:00
adequate facilities provided to protect
11:02
experimental subjects against even the
11:04
remote
11:06
possibility of death
11:09
if there's any possibility of the
11:11
subject dying the experiment should not
11:13
be carried out it's very simple
11:18
eight experiment should only be
11:21
conducted by very highly qualified
11:23
people and should be well supervised
11:27
now there's no point having
11:30
three well well qualified people who
11:32
live I don't know
11:33
let's say in I don't know Geneva let's
11:36
say in Geneva saying oh we should do
11:38
this they should be experimenting every
11:41
supervising every single subject that's
11:43
being experimented on
11:52
we need the expertise and the
11:54
supervision
11:56
together
12:01
High degrees of skill nine
12:04
subject can pack in at any time
12:07
and finish it anytime and the
12:10
experimenter may need to bring the
12:11
subject
12:13
they may need to bring the experiment to
12:15
an end at any time they must be fully
12:17
prepared to do this
12:21
that's the Nuremberg code 1947 makes a
12:24
lot of sense to me I'd like to see a new
12:25
Clause inserted for the
12:28
uh financial gain
12:31
but uh it's a pretty comprehensive well
12:34
drawn up document after the doctor's
12:36
trial at the time
12:43
the indictment on Humanity that it
12:45
needed to be done in the first place of
12:46
course
12:50
have we
12:52
moved on from then
12:53
of course we hope so
12:59
if history does anything
13:01
it's a warning
13:04
history is a warning for the future
13:10
not going to over interpret we'll leave
13:11
it there
13:13
now let's finish on a brighter note for
13:14
goodness sake
13:15
um this is from our community health
13:18
project in Uganda now we're actually
13:20
buying at the moment um maze because
13:23
it's quite cheap in Uganda at the moment
13:24
and it gets very expensive later on and
13:26
poor people can't afford to buy it so
13:28
we're buying the maze we've got a mill
13:31
now so we're going to Mill it and and
13:33
sort of kind of spread the prices out so
13:35
uh poor people don't start and we're
13:37
also feeding directly 100 uh uh poor
13:40
children so but let me talk about it and
13:43
um and then um
13:44
yeah well we'll just do just two minutes
13:46
give it two minutes a great project I'm
13:49
totally convinced by it
13:50
so I want to share with you some
13:53
information from our guidance and then
13:55
some good news from Dr John as I will
13:59
start with a report from our guidance uh
14:02
so uh we are in a harvesting season in
14:06
the community actually harvesting season
14:08
is ending uh but the good thing is we
14:12
were able to harvest a 1.8 tons of maize
14:15
from our Gardens uh we also harvested
14:20
uh gnat and the
14:23
beans so we are going to be able to
14:26
provide food for those ones who don't
14:28
have a school going children also
14:31
so uh we are very happy we hope to
14:35
provide for at least 100 children
14:38
a meal at least for some good months so
14:42
the good news is Dr John sent us money
14:44
that we used to buy 13 tons of maize we
14:50
are doing this because during the
14:53
harvesting period the price of Maize and
14:58
other Foods is usually low and since
15:00
people don't have money because they
15:02
sell this food
15:03
sometimes to support themselves on top
15:06
of eating so people from different areas
15:10
and the outside the country come and buy
15:14
this food and this leads to food
15:16
insecurity and Hiking of prices just
15:20
after a short time so we decided to buy
15:24
food in large quantities and we are
15:27
still buying in case when there is
15:30
someone who is interested in buying for
15:33
us the idea is we want to store food in
15:38
large quantities from the community such
15:40
that in time of
15:46
yeah there we go um so that when
15:49
refractor says the gardens he means the
15:51
aquacultural land that we've bought
15:52
we've got 1.8 tons of maize from there
15:54
plus plus the beans for the protein
15:56
also the beans of course are legumes so
15:58
they're plowed back into the soil so
16:00
soil maintenance is a very big part of
16:02
this and at the moment in Africa there
16:04
are corporate interests buying up
16:06
agricultural land so I'm glad that we've
16:08
got at least this small piece
16:10
uh that we've got a completely legal
16:12
trust with the Ugandan government now uh
16:14
to make that land secure
16:17
um now when he says when he says I sent
16:19
money uh that that he means the channel
16:21
sent money so thank you if you've
16:23
watched the channel That helps in this
16:25
uh in this project
16:27
and we bought 13 tons and we've just
16:30
been able to send some more money so
16:31
it's going up to 20 tons now so uh it's
16:34
really going to help in food security
16:35
for that area and as well as that maybe
16:37
even more importantly
16:39
um this is a model that can be followed
16:41
in other parts of Africa it's Community
16:43
Based this is not Aid we don't do Aid
16:45
it's it is empowerment
16:48
of course if you like to be involved in
16:50
this we'll put some links below you can
16:51
talk to with other directly
16:54
um so interesting we're doing the
16:57
agricultural food security work as well
17:00
as the uh the direct medical work of
17:02
course
17:04
so brighter note to end on
17:07
sorry of the Nuremberg code bit was a
17:09
bit depressing but I think it needed to
17:11
be
17:13
it needs to be discussed because we have
17:15
to learn from the mistakes of History
17:16
otherwise we are destined to repeat them
17:21
thank you for watching