List of medical eponyms with Nazi associations

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This article lists medical eponyms which have been associated with Nazi human experimentation or Nazi politics. While normally eponyms used in medicine serve to honor the memory of the physician or researcher who first documented a disease or pioneered a procedure, the propriety of such names resulting from unethical research practices is controversial. In some cases terms closely related to doctors in the Nazi era have fallen out of favor or there are active lobbying efforts to remove the original name from use. In other cases their use in the medical literature is sometimes presented with a caveat or footnote.

Contents

The declining use of the Nazi-era eponyms has itself been tracked in the literature. [1] Since 2007, the Israel Medical Association Journal [2] and European Neurology [3] have each published articles cataloging eponyms honoring Nazis and their collaborators. While the most direct Nazi experimenters (such as Josef Mengele) were never honored, others who were members of the Nazi party or whose research relied upon the Nazi program—such as conducting research on the remains of Nazi execution victims—have been honored.

Some physicians have used the Nazi associations as an argument to discontinue the use of eponyms in medical naming conventions altogether, [4] while others have argued that such Nazi-associated eponyms should be retained as "a means of conveying immortal dishonor." [5] Both the Israel Medical Association Journal and European Neurology articles advocated that eponyms honoring victims of the Nazis be retained, while eponyms honoring Nazi collaborators or benefactors be replaced.

List of eponyms

TermReplacement termNamed afterNazi association of term
Asperger syndrome Autism spectrum disorder Hans Asperger Hans Asperger "managed to accommodate himself to the Nazi regime and was rewarded for his affirmations of loyalty with career opportunities. He joined several organizations affiliated with the NSDAP (although not the Nazi party itself), publicly legitimized race hygiene policies including forced sterilizations and, on several occasions, actively cooperated with the child 'euthanasia' program." [6]
Beck–Ibrahim disease Congenital cutaneous candidiasis Yusuf Ibrahim "After the war, a commission investigating his activities concluded that Dr. Ibrahim supported the Nazi euthanasia program." [2]
Cauchois–Eppinger–Frugoni syndrome Portal vein thrombosis Hans Eppinger "[Eppinger] conducted cruel experiments on Romani prisoners in the Dachau concentration camp in order to test the potability of seawater. ... Eppinger committed suicide with poison on 25 September 1946, one month before he was scheduled to testify in Nuremberg." [2]
Clara cell Club cell Max Clara Max Clara "owed his career advancement in no small way to his membership in the Nazi party and active support of its programme." In his 1937 paper, Clara acknowledges that the sample he based his work on "was obtained from a prisoner executed by the Nazi 'justice system'". [7] [8]
Hallervorden–Spatz disease Pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration Julius Hallervorden, Hugo Spatz "[Julius Hallervorden] readily admitted that 697 brains he investigated during the Nazi period were from victims of euthanasia. It is alleged that he was present at the killing of more than 60 children and adolescents in the Brandenburg Psychiatric Institution on 28 October 1940. He was reported to have removed brain material himself from euthanasia victims in a nearby extermination (euthanasia) center." (See also Spatz-Stiefler reaction below) [2] [3]
Reiter's syndrome Reactive arthritis Hans Conrad Julius Reiter "During World War II, Reiter, a physician leader of the Nazi party, authorized medical experiments on concentration camp prisoners. Because of this, some physicians have argued against further use of the Reiter eponym." [1]
Seitelberger disease Infantile neuroaxonal dystrophy Franz Seitelberger  [ de ]"Franz Seitelberger, a Vienna neurologist and former member of the SS, [...] although never involved in the planning or execution of NS-euthanasia, benefited from it scientifically during the post-war period. Examining the brains of 3 'euthanasia' victims from the Landesanstalt Görden in Brandenburg, Seitelberger earned his PhD in 1954 under the supervision of Julius Hallervorden." [3]
Spatz–Stiefler reaction Paralysis agitans reaction Hugo Spatz, Georg Stiefler"Under Spatz's control and direction, the brain research institute collaborated with the killing institute at Brandenburg-Gorden, obtaining hundreds of brains from the mentally ill of all ages." [2]
Van Bogaert–Scherer–Epstein syndrome Cerebrotendineous xanthomatosis Hans Joachim Scherer  [ de ]"During the war, [Scherer] worked at the Neurology Institute in Breslau, Silesia. Here Scherer was directly involved in neuropathological brain analyses of over 300 Polish and German children euthanized in the nearby Loben Psychiatric Clinic for Youth." [2] [3]
Wegener's granulomatosis Granulomatosis with polyangiitis Friedrich Wegener "The facts we have uncovered do not prove Dr Friedrich Wegener guilty of war crimes. However, the evidence suggests that Dr Wegener was, at least at some point of his career, a follower of the Nazi regime. Dr Wegener's mentor, Martin Staemmler  [ de ], was an ardent supporter of the racial hygiene. In addition, our data indicate that Dr Wegener was wanted by Polish authorities and that his files were forwarded to the United Nations War Crimes Commission. Finally, Dr Wegener worked in close proximity to the genocide machinery in Lodz." [9]
Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome n/aAlfred Wiskott"Wiskott was the director of Dr.-von-Haunersches Kinderspital. After the war he testified for the defense in the Hamburg Ravensbruck trials." [10]
Rett syndrome n/a Andreas Rett The term "Rett syndrome" is named after Andreas Rett, an Austrian neurologist and a member of the Hitler Jugend and the Nazi Party as a child and young adult. In recent years he has also been criticized for using research data derived from the Nazi program of Aktion T4, which was the name given to the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of people, including of children, under the guise of medical euthanasia.

Related Research Articles

Internal medicine, also known as general internal medicine in Commonwealth nations, is a medical specialty for medical doctors focused on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of internal diseases in adults. Medical practitioners of internal medicine are referred to as internists, or physicians in Commonwealth nations. Internists possess specialized skills in managing patients with undifferentiated or multi-system disease processes. They provide care to both hospitalized (inpatient) and ambulatory (outpatient) patients and often contribute significantly to teaching and research. Internists are qualified physicians who have undergone postgraduate training in internal medicine, and should not be confused with "interns”, a term commonly used for a medical doctor who has obtained a medical degree but does not yet have a license to practice medicine unsupervised.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bronchiectasis</span> Disease of the lungs

Bronchiectasis is a disease in which there is permanent enlargement of parts of the airways of the lung. Symptoms typically include a chronic cough with mucus production. Other symptoms include shortness of breath, coughing up blood, and chest pain. Wheezing and nail clubbing may also occur. Those with the disease often get lung infections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Granulomatosis with polyangiitis</span> Medical condition

Granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA), previously known as Wegener's granulomatosis (WG), after the Nazi German physician Friedrich Wegener, is a rare long-term systemic disorder that involves the formation of granulomas and inflammation of blood vessels (vasculitis). It is an autoimmune disease and a form of vasculitis that affects small- and medium-size vessels in many organs but most commonly affects the upper respiratory tract, lungs and kidneys. The signs and symptoms of GPA are highly varied and reflect which organs are supplied by the affected blood vessels. Typical signs and symptoms include nosebleeds, stuffy nose and crustiness of nasal secretions, and inflammation of the uveal layer of the eye. Damage to the heart, lungs and kidneys can be fatal.

Club cells, also known as bronchiolar exocrine cells, are low columnar/cuboidal cells with short microvilli, found in the small airways (bronchioles) of the lungs. They were formerly known as Clara cells.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Friedrich Wegener</span> German pathologist (1907–1990

Friedrich Wegener was a German pathologist who is notable for his description of a rare disease originally referred to Wegener disease and now referred to as granulomatosis with polyangiitis. Although this disease was known before Wegener's description, from the 1950s onwards it was generally referred to as Wegener's granulomatosis.

Occupational asthma is new onset asthma or the recurrence of previously quiescent asthma directly caused by exposure to an agent at workplace. It is an occupational lung disease and a type of work-related asthma. Agents that can induce occupational asthma can be grouped into sensitizers and irritants.

Pulmonary rehabilitation, also known as respiratory rehabilitation, is an important part of the management and health maintenance of people with chronic respiratory disease who remain symptomatic or continue to have decreased function despite standard medical treatment. It is a broad therapeutic concept. It is defined by the American Thoracic Society and the European Respiratory Society as an evidence-based, multidisciplinary, and comprehensive intervention for patients with chronic respiratory diseases who are symptomatic and often have decreased daily life activities. In general, pulmonary rehabilitation refers to a series of services that are administered to patients of respiratory disease and their families, typically to attempt to improve the quality of life for the patient. Pulmonary rehabilitation may be carried out in a variety of settings, depending on the patient's needs, and may or may not include pharmacologic intervention.

Combined pulmonary fibrosis and emphysema (CPFE), describes a medical syndrome involving both pulmonary fibrosis and emphysema. The combination is most commonly found in male smokers. Pulmonary function tests typically show preserved lung volume with very low transfer factor.

Congenital cutaneous candidiasis is a type of candida infection in newborn babies, which appears as generalized red patches and small bumps on the skin or in the mouth, appearing at birth or a few days after birth. It can also occur as more serious widespread disseminated type.

Professor Maximinus Friedrich Alexander de Crinis held a chair in psychiatry in Cologne and at Charité in Berlin, and was a medical expert for the Action T4 Euthanasia Program who wrote the Euthanasia Decree, signed by Adolf Hitler on 20 September 1939.

Max Samter was a German-American immunologist who first extensively studied the triad between asthma, aspirin allergy, and nasal polyps that became known as Samter's triad, now aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease. Samter was a third generation doctor and obtained medical training in Europe. After fleeing Nazi occupation in Germany, Samter had a long career in medical research in the United States. He is a pioneer in the field of immunology, having written many of the foundational textbooks of the field. Samter founded The Max Samter Institute for Immunology Research at Grant Medical Center, and after his death it was renamed in his honor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Max Clara</span> Austrian scientist (1899–1966)

Max Clara was a German anatomist and Nazi Party member, who conducted research on the corpses of executed prisoners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julius Hallervorden</span> German physician and neuroscientist

Julius Hallervorden was a German physician and neuroscientist.

Hugo Spatz was a German neuropathologist. In 1937, he was appointed director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Brain Research. He was a member of the Nazi Party, and admitted to knowingly performing much of his controversial research on the brains of executed prisoners. Along with Julius Hallervorden, he is credited with the discovery of Hallervorden-Spatz syndrome. Hugo Spatz's Oberarzt, 1937–1939, Richard Lindenberg, became chief neuropathologist of the State of Maryland.

The Dutch hypothesis provides one of several biologically plausible explanations for the pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a progressive disease known to be aetiologically linked to environmental insults such as tobacco smoke.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yusuf Ibrahim (doctor)</span>

Yusuf Ibrahim, also known as Yusuf Bey Murad Ibrahim, was a physician and pediatrician. He was responsible for the description of congenital cutaneous candidiasis, originally known as Beck-Ibrahim disease. The discovery of his association with the Nazi euthanasia program during the World War II resulted in an effort to rename this disease. The clinic for child and adolescent medicine at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena also chose to change its name from Kinderklinik Jussuf Ibrahim after his Nazi past was uncovered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pulmonary venoocclusive disease</span> Medical condition

Pulmonary veno-occlusive disease (PVOD) is a rare form of pulmonary hypertension caused by progressive blockage of the small veins in the lungs. The blockage leads to high blood pressures in the arteries of the lungs, which, in turn, leads to heart failure. The disease is progressive and fatal, with median survival of about 2 years from the time of diagnosis to death. The definitive therapy is lung transplantation.

Peter Tiffany Macklem, OC, FRCP(C), FRSC was a Canadian doctor, medical researcher and hospital administrator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bird Names for Birds</span> Campaign to abandon eponyms in common names for birds

Bird Names for Birds (BN4B) is a campaign to change the common names of American birds named after people and redress the recognition of figures in ornithology with racist or colonial pasts. Officially launched in June 2020 by ornithologists Jordan E. Rutter and Gabriel Foley with a public petition, in the midst of the George Floyd protests and in the aftermath of an incident in Central Park that paved the way to Black Birders Week, the BN4B movement emerged after several years of social activism by multiple American ornithologists and birders, many of whom are not affiliated with BN4B but remain devoted to the cause. The inaugural petition, dated June 22, 2020, and co-signed by 182 individuals, urged the American Ornithological Society (AOS) to "acknowledge the issue of eponymous and honorific common names, to outline a plan to change harmful common names, and to prioritize the implementation of this plan." In 2023, the AOS formally announced that it will "change all English bird names currently named after people within its geographic jurisdiction" to remove the names of individuals with prejudiced histories, such as racism or misogyny.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francesco Blasi</span> Italian medical scientist

Francesco Blasi is an Italian Medical scientist and professor. His domain of research is respiratory medicine. He has been the president of European Respiratory Society (ERS) during 2012–13. He has served as the president of Italian Respiratory Society during 2015–17. He is presently serving as one of the board of directors of University of Milan and is the professor of respiratory medicine in department pathophysiology and transplantation in University of Milan.

References

  1. 1 2 Wu, Dave A.; Kenneth A. Katz (October 2005). "Declining Use of the Eponym "Reiter's syndrome" in the Medical Literature, 1998-2003". Journal of the American Association of Dermatology. 53 (4): 720–723. doi:10.1016/j.jaad.2005.06.048. PMID   16198806.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Strous, Rael D.; Morris C. Edelman (March 2007). "Eponyms and the Nazi Era: Time to Remember and Time For Change". Israel Medical Association Journal . 9 (3): 207–214. PMID   17402342 . Retrieved 2021-04-05.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Kondziella, Daniel (2009). "Thirty Neurological Eponyms Associated with the Nazi Era". European Neurology. 62 (1): 56–64. doi: 10.1159/000215880 . PMID   19407456.
  4. ↑ Woywodt, Alexander; Eric Matteson (2007). "Should Eponyms be Abandoned? Yes". British Medical Journal . 335 (7617): 424. doi:10.1136/bmj.39308.342639.AD. PMC   1962844 . PMID   17762033.
  5. ↑ Leach, John Paul (April 24, 2003). "Correspondence: Hallervorden and History". The New England Journal of Medicine . 348 (17): 1725–1726. doi:10.1056/NEJM200304243481721. PMID   12711755.
  6. ↑ Czech, H (April 2018). "Hans Asperger, National Socialism, and "race hygiene" in Nazi-era Vienna". Molecular Autism (Review). 9 (29): 29. doi: 10.1186/s13229-018-0208-6 . PMC   5907291 . PMID   29713442.
  7. ↑ Woywodt, A.; S. Lefrak; E. Matteson (October 1, 2010). "Tainted Eponyms in Medicine: the "Clara" Cell Joins the List". European Respiratory Journal. 36 (4): 704–706. doi: 10.1183/09031936.00046110 . PMID   20889455 . Retrieved 2010-10-31.
  8. ↑ Winkelmann, A.; T. Noack (October 1, 2010). "The Clara Cell: a "Third Reich eponym"?". European Respiratory Journal. 36 (4): 722–727. doi: 10.1183/09031936.00146609 . PMID   20223917 . Retrieved 2010-11-01.
  9. ↑ Woywodt, A.; E. L. Matteson (2006-08-03). "Wegener's Granulomatosis—Probing the Untold Past of the Man Behind the Eponym". Rheumatology . 45 (10): 1303–1306. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/kel258 . PMID   16887845.
  10. ↑ Weindling, Paul Julian (2004). Nazi Medicine and the Nuremberg Trials (PDF). PALGRAVE MACMILLAN. ISBN   1-4039-3911-X.
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