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 as laypeople.