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George Annas is the Edward R. Utley Professor and Chair of the Department of Health Law, Bioethics & Human Rights of Boston University School of Public Health, and Professor in the Boston University School of Medicine and School of Law. He is the co-founder of Global Lawyers and Physicians, a transnational professional association of lawyers and physicians working together to promote human rights and health.
Prof. Annas has degrees from Harvard College (A.B. economics, 1967), Harvard Law School (J.D. 1970) and Harvard School of Public Health (M.P.H. 1972), where he was a Joseph P. Kennedy Fellow in Medical Ethics. After graduating from law school, he clerked for Justice John V. Spalding of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and came to Boston University in 1972 as the Director of the Center for Law and Health Sciences at the law school.
Prof. Annas is the author or editor of sixteen books on health law and bioethics. Prof. Annas has been called the father of patient rights, the doyen of American medico-legal analysts, and a national treasure.
This visit by Prof. Annas was cosponsored by the University of Minnesota's:
Joint Degree Program in Law, Health & the Life Sciences and
Center for Bioethics
With major support from:
The Law Firm of Leonard Street & Deinard
More information
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The Legacy of the Nazi Doctors' Trial for American Bioethics and International Human Rights Law
Prof. George J. Annas, JD, MPH
Boston University
Thursday, February 7, 2008
11:30AM - 1:00PM
Theater
Coffman Memorial Union
Prof. George Annas, Boston University, argued that American bioethics was born at the Doctors' Trial at Nuremberg (1946-47) at which American lawyers and physicians worked together to prosecute Nazi physicians and scientists for war crimes and crimes against humanity, crimes often committed under the guise of medical experimentation necessitated by national security. The trial court's formulation of the Nuremberg Code, with its absolute requirement of informed consent, is usually presented as the trial's major medical ethics and human rights law accomplishment.
But the real legacy of the doctors' trial is deeper, and includes the beginnings of a convergence of human rights and bioethics at practice levels both above (international human rights law) and below (individual and professional ethics) the level of the sovereign state and its national laws. The bioethics and human rights legacy of Nuremberg includes not only rules about human experimentation, but also rules about physician's role in executions, interrogations, and torture.
On the 60th anniversary of the Doctors' Trial, we are again asking, with Elie Wiesel, "how is it possible?" and again addressing the question of why torture is so attractive to humans and whether doctors and lawyers, working together as they did at Nuremberg, but with the advantage of a 60-year legacy including the Geneva Conventions and the ICCPR, can prevent at least some war crimes and crimes against humanity by taking medical ethics—and human rights laws—seriously.
Commentators:
Intended Audience: students, faculty, health care professionals, attorneys, patients, researchers,
policymakers, and community members.
Following this lecture, participants would be able to:
- Discuss the impact of the Nuremberg trials in the fields of medicine, bioethics, and human rights.
- Describe the scope of the Nuremberg Code and its implications for medical ethics.
This event was free and open to the public. Registration was required to receive continuing education credits (CLE or CME).
Continuing legal education credit (CLE) for attorneys was approved at 1.5 hours. The University of Minnesota is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
Application has been submitted for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit. Determination of credit is pending. It is the policy of the University of Minnesota Office of Continuing Medical Education to ensure balance, independence, objectivity and scientific rigor in all of its sponsored educational activities.
All participating faculty, course directors, and planning committee members are required to disclose to the program audience any financial relationships related to the subject matter of this program. Disclosure information is reviewed in advance in order to manage and resolve any possible conflicts of interest.
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