Bioethics and the Holocaust: A Comprehensive Study in How the Holocaust Continues to Shape the Ethics of Health, Medicine and Human Rights

This open access book offers a framework for understanding how the Holocaust has shaped and continues to shape medical ethics, health policy, and questions related to human rights around the world. The field of bioethics continues to face questions of social and medical controversy that have their roots in the lessons of the Holocaust, such as debates over beginning-of-life and medical genetics, end-of-life matters such as medical aid in dying, the development of ethical codes and regulations to guide human subject research, and human rights abuses in vulnerable populations. As the only example of medically sanctioned genocide in history, and one that used medicine and science to fundamentally undermine human dignity and the moral foundation of society, the Holocaust provides an invaluable framework for exploring current issues in bioethics and society today. This book, therefore, is of great value to all current and future ethicists, medical practitioners and policymakers – as well aslaypeople.

Stacy Gallin is the Founding Director of the Maimonides Institute for Medicine, Ethics and the Holocaust (MIMEH), a member of the Governing Council, Co-Chair of the Department of Bioethics and the Holocaust and Faculty of the Department of Education of the International Chair of Bioethics (a World Medical Association Cooperation Centre), and a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University.  She received her doctoral degree in Medical Humanities from Drew University and has worked closely with many internationally recognized organizations to raise awareness regarding the relevance of medicine, ethics and the Holocaust for modern medical practice, healthcare policy and human rights endeavors.  Dr. Gallin’s academic interests also include the medicalization of psychiatry, the role of human dignity in healthcare and the development of mechanisms to engage youth in social advocacy and the promotion of equality, justice, and dignity.

Ira Bedzow is the Director of The MirYam Institute Project on International Ethics & Leadership and Head of the International Chair in Bioethics Unit (a World Medical Association Cooperation Centre) at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion, Emory University. He holds a PhD in Religion from Emory University and a Masters degree from University of Chicago. His interests relate to understanding the ethical implications of biotechnology and healthcare policy as well as how organizations can create an ethical culture through values-driven leadership. Bedzow is also Senior Scholar of the Aspen Center for Social Values, co-director of the Maimonides Institute for Medicine, Ethics and the Holocaust (MIMEH), a contributor at the MirYam Institute, and a regular contributor in Forbes for their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion section. He is also an Orthodox rabbi (yoreh yoreh, yadin yadin).