Summary

The Code is a part of the verdict the military tribunal delivered in the case against the Nazi doctors Karl Brandt et. al. on August 19, 1947 in a section entitled 'Permissible Medical Experiments (USHM, 2020). The code contains ten elements, the first and most important of which is the principle of consent, including the right to terminate the research after it has started.
The type of consent defined by the code is, importantly, an informed consent, specifically, it "requires that before the acceptance of an affirmative decision by the experimental subject there should be made known to him the nature, duration, and purpose of the experiment; the method and means by which it is to be conducted; all inconveniences and hazards reasonably to be expected; and the effects upon his health or person which may possibly come from his participation in the experiment" (Ibid).
Even with consent, the Code also determines that the researcher should be a qualified scientist, that the research ought to have scientific merit, be based on sound theory and previous testing, that the research should not risk "even remote possibilities of injury, disability, or death," nor should the harm exceed the potential benefits of the research.

Content

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