Nuremberg Code

They focused on physicians who conducted inhumane and unethical human experiments in concentration camps, in addition to those who were involved in over 3.5 million sterilizations of German citizens.

In April 1947, Alexander submitted a memorandum to the United States Counsel for War Crimes outlining six points for legitimate medical research.

[6] An early version of the Code known as the Memorandum, which stated explicit voluntary consent from patients is required for human experimentation, was drafted on 9 August 1947.

The ten points became known as the Code, which includes such principles as informed consent and absence of coercion; properly formulated scientific experimentation; and beneficence towards experiment participants.

In his letter to Maurice Henry Pappworth, an English physician and the author of the 1967 book Human Guinea Pigs, Andrew Ivy claimed sole authorship of the code.

In fact, the Code's reference to Hippocratic duty to the individual patient and the need to provide information was not initially favored by the American Medical Association.

[citation needed] The lack of clarity, the brutality of the unethical medical experiments, and the uncompromising language of the Code created an image that it was designed for singularly egregious transgressions.

[1] However, the Code is considered by some to be the most important document in the history of clinical research ethics, because of its massive influence on global human rights.

"[10] The idea of free or informed consent also served as the basis for International Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research Involving Human Subjects proposed by the World Health Organization.

President and Rector Markus Muller writes in his introduction that the Code "constitutes one of the most important milestones in the history of medicine, providing for the first time a proper framework for research on human subjects.