Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 2017
Transcervical sterilization is a non-surgical method of permanent female sterilization that is wi... more Transcervical sterilization is a non-surgical method of permanent female sterilization that is widely used and critically discussed. A review of the historiography of the method reveals that instances of its coercive use are not included in the historical account. This study offers a reexamination of the work of Carl Clauberg and Hans-Joachim Lindemann, to more deeply contextualize within the framework of current usage the coercive use of transcervical sterilization during the Third Reich and in postwar Germany. This inquiry is based on postwar criminal trial records on Clauberg, and on archival documents detailing Lindemann's activities in 1979. A comparative analysis examines arguments by medical historian Karl-Heinz Roth, and identifies shared characteristics and differences between Clauberg and Lindemann, their methods and scientific connections. The results demonstrate that the technique of transcervical sterilization has an abusive potential that may be explained as a function of the person of the physician, of the scientific method itself, and of societal and political influences. The analysis supports the argument that insights from the cases of Clauberg and Lindemann are transferrable geographically and over time, and have the potential to inform current medical practice, such as transcervical sterilization with the Essure device, whose historiographic exploration remains a desideratum.
A paper was published in 2003 discussing the ethics of nurses participating in executions by inse... more A paper was published in 2003 discussing the ethics of nurses participating in executions by inserting the intravenous line for lethal injections and providing care until death. This paper was circulated on an international email list of senior nurses and academics to engender discussion. From that discussion, several people agreed to contribute to a paper expressing their own thoughts and feelings about the ethics of nurses participating in executions in countries where capital punishment is legal. While a range of opinions were presented, these opinions fell into two main themes. The first of these included reflections on the philosophical obligations of nurses as caregivers who support those in times of great need, including condemned prisoners at the end of life. The second theme encompassed the notion that no nurse ever should participate in the active taking of life, in line with the codes of ethics of various nursing organisations. This range of opinions suggests the complexi...
This study identifies social determinants of HIV infection, hotspot areas and subpopulation group... more This study identifies social determinants of HIV infection, hotspot areas and subpopulation groups in Ethiopia. The study used data from the 2011 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS). Sample blood tests from the finger pricks collected on filter paper cards were labelled with a barcode unique to each respondent. Spatial scan statistics and geographic information system tools were used to map hotspot areas of HIV prevalence. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression models were used to identify social determinants of HIV infection. A total of 30 625 adults (16 515 women and 14 110 men) were included from 11 administrative states of Ethiopia. Laboratory-confirmed HIV serostatus is the main outcome variable. HIV prevalence reached 10-21% in the central, eastern and western geographic clusters of Ethiopia. Multivariable analysis showed that individuals who were in the middle, richer and richest wealth quintiles had increased odds of having HIV over those in the poorest quintile. Adults who had primary, secondary and higher educational levels had higher odds of being HIV positive than non-educated individuals. The odds of having HIV were higher among adults who had multiple lifetime sexual partners than those with a single partner. An increasing odds of HIV infection were observed among adults in the age groups of 25-29, 30-34, 35-39 and 40-45 years compared with adults in the age group of 45-49 years. Merchants had higher odds of being HIV positive than those who were not employed. The odds of having HIV were higher among urban residents and females than among rural residents and males, respectively. This study found statistically significant HIV concentrations in administrative zones of central, eastern and western Ethiopia. Geospatial monitoring and targeting of prevention strategies for specific population groups is recommended.
Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, 2007
ABSTRACT As the number of Holocaust survivors who are able to tell their histories decreases, the... more ABSTRACT As the number of Holocaust survivors who are able to tell their histories decreases, the urgency increases to leave a record of their experiences. It is this that has motivated Dr. Rochelle Saidel to document the experiences of the inmates of Ravensbrück concentration camp and, in particular, those of the Jewish inmates of Ravensbrück. In so doing, she has provided a well-researched account that is valuable both to scholars of the Holocaust and to friends and descendants of the Jewish women of Ravensbrück. Dr. Saidel is the founder of the Remember the Women Institute, which is dedicated to the remembrance of the women of Ravensbrück and to the continued historical research of this unique camp and its enormously strong inmate population. This book exemplifies the purpose of this Institute. In parallel to the narratives of the survivors is the narrative of the struggle to realize the Jewish identity of the inmates through history and through recognition at the Mahn- und Gedenkstätte Ravensbrück. Dr. Saidel began making contact with the survivors at the 50th anniversary of the camp's liberation in 1995. She was able to contact other Jewish survivors with the assistance of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, which provided a mailing list of survivors as well as a cover letter for her initial contact. From this list of 300 survivors, Dr. Saidel received sixty replies, with most women completing the questionnaire and often supplying additional names. Dr. Saidel has interviewed many of these Jewish survivors and their descendants in Brazil, Europe, the U.S., and Israel. Of the 132,000 prisoners of Ravensbrück, 117,000 were killed or died there. Jewish women were a minority among the inmates of Ravensbrück, comprising about 20 percent of the population, and their story has heretofore never been told. And although there are memorials to these prisoners at Ravensbrück, they are grouped according to nationality. As recently as 1980, the Jewish prisoners were not memorialized separately but together with their fellow inmates of a nation, with often inappropriate results—the Polish Jews were memorialized as a part of all Polish prisoners in a room with a large crucifix. It was this lack of singular identification that motivated Dr. Saidel to begin her research into the lives, and often deaths, of the Jewish inmates of Ravensbrück. Now there is a Jewish memorial at the camp, and this book, too, serves as a memorial to these women. Beginning with a history of the camp, Dr. Saidel describes what she refers to as "a special hell for women." Indeed, Ravensbrück was unique in that it was built for female resisters and political prisoners. At the beginning, it was not a camp designed to implement the "final solution" but rather a place for females to work as slave laborers as they were being punished for their politics. Dr. Saidel provides the background for understanding this "special hell for women" and describes the particular cruelty of inmates having to work as draft animals pulling rollers to pave the streets and of being punished by having to stand for hours on ice in the bunker. There is a description of the camp's population as delineated by their triangular badges: Political prisoners (German, French, Polish, Dutch, and Soviet), British spies, Jehovah's Witnesses, Asocials, and Criminals. Jews wore a yellow triangle and were often brought to Ravensbrück as political prisoners. Their educational and economic backgrounds ranged from professor to peasant. The narratives provided by survivors in The Jewish Women of Ravensbrück Concentration Camp are rich in detail. Of particular interest are the aspects of survivorship that are attributed uniquely to women, such as the sharing of recipes, the development of strong friendships and surrogate families, communal childcare, and the exchange of gifts. There is a very moving display at the Ravensbrück memorial of these small handmade gifts that exemplifies a uniquely female custom in the camps. Among the most interesting narratives is the story of Gemma LaGuardia Gluck. She was an American citizen and the sister of the mayor of New York City, Fiorello LaGuardia, and was married to a Hungarian Jew...
This study was conducted to determine the frequency of breast self-examination (BSE), clinical br... more This study was conducted to determine the frequency of breast self-examination (BSE), clinical breast examination, and mammography of adult daughters of women with breast cancer. Additionally, the relationships among frequency of self-examination, clinical examination, perceived risk, fear of breast cancer, and frequency of talking with their mothers about breast cancer were assessed. A retrospective, correlational descriptive design was used. Questionnaires were mailed to members of a breast cancer support group and to women diagnosed with breast cancer in one medical oncology practice. These women were asked to mail the questionnaires to their adult daughters. There was a significant relationship between frequency of BSE and frequency of talking with mothers about breast cancer. Frequency of self-examination was related inversely to fear of breast cancer. Fear of breast cancer appears to act as a barrier to action whereas frequency of talking with their mothers about breast cancer...
This historical research report presents and analyzes 2 recently identified narratives of women w... more This historical research report presents and analyzes 2 recently identified narratives of women who underwent sterilization experiments at the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II. A description of the historical and contextual background is presented in which involvement of the prisoner nurse occurred in the sterilization experiments. Using a critical feminist perspective, the ethics of nursing involvement are discussed in these experiments, with an emphasis on the political dimension. Salient implications are explored for contemporary nursing.
Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany on 1 September 1939 and World War II began on 3 September. Pol... more Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany on 1 September 1939 and World War II began on 3 September. Polish nurses have their place in this difficult history. In the first months of occupation, nurses focused on caring for wounded soldiers. In order to protect them from prisoner-of-war camps and execution, nurses sought safe havens for the wounded in private homes and transported them there. After their regular jobs, the nurses visited them, changed their dressings and provided them with civilian clothes so that soldiers could eventually escape. This paper describes the work of two of these nurses, Wanda Ossowska and Stanisława Leszczyńska. The first three authors (BD, SH, AJS) were nurses in Poland at that time and they present some of the information in this paper as primary source data.
This article examines the actions and testimonies of 14 nurses who killed psychiatric patients at... more This article examines the actions and testimonies of 14 nurses who killed psychiatric patients at the state hospital of Meseritz-Obrawalde in the Nazi 'euthanasia' program. The nurses provided various reasons for their decisions to participate in the killings. An ethical analysis of the testimonies demonstrates that a belief in the relief of suffering, the notion that the patients would 'benefit' from death, their selection by physicians for the 'treatment' of 'euthanasia', and a perceived duty to obey unquestioningly the orders of physicians were the primary ethical reasons that were stated for their behavior. However, 20 years had elapsed between the killings and the trial, thus giving ample opportunity for the defendants to develop comfortable rationales for their actions and for their attorneys to have observed successful defenses of others accused of euthanasia.
Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, 1998
This article explores the historical, ethical, and legal antecedents of assisted suicide. Followi... more This article explores the historical, ethical, and legal antecedents of assisted suicide. Following a differentiation between assisted suicide and euthanasia, the historical aspects of suicide in the United States and other countries are described. Four cardinal principles form the basis for the ethical consideration of practice: autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice. Respect for autonomy is essential to the care of dying patients. However, the exercise of autonomy does not necessarily place an obligation to act on others. This could be important in the consideration of a request to a nurse for assistance in suicide. Nonmaleficence may also be a principle involved in decisions to discontinue treatments that are unwanted by the individual. Beneficence, the prevention of harm or the doing of good, may be in conflict with the respect for autonomy when one considers assisted suicide. Although one may wish to alleviate the suffering, assisting with death as a means of ending the suffering may violate the principle of beneficence even though the individual may, in his or her autonomy, request death. Justice describes what individuals are legitimately entitled to, but individual justice may be abridged by the utilitarian model of justice for society overall. Most states send ambivalent messages about the legal status of assisted suicide. Although many states criminalize assisted suicide, state prosecution of assisted suicide is not common. Furthermore, many juries have found those accused of murder or manslaughter in these instances "not guilty." A summary of the laws of each state related to assisted suicide is included.
Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 2017
Transcervical sterilization is a non-surgical method of permanent female sterilization that is wi... more Transcervical sterilization is a non-surgical method of permanent female sterilization that is widely used and critically discussed. A review of the historiography of the method reveals that instances of its coercive use are not included in the historical account. This study offers a reexamination of the work of Carl Clauberg and Hans-Joachim Lindemann, to more deeply contextualize within the framework of current usage the coercive use of transcervical sterilization during the Third Reich and in postwar Germany. This inquiry is based on postwar criminal trial records on Clauberg, and on archival documents detailing Lindemann's activities in 1979. A comparative analysis examines arguments by medical historian Karl-Heinz Roth, and identifies shared characteristics and differences between Clauberg and Lindemann, their methods and scientific connections. The results demonstrate that the technique of transcervical sterilization has an abusive potential that may be explained as a function of the person of the physician, of the scientific method itself, and of societal and political influences. The analysis supports the argument that insights from the cases of Clauberg and Lindemann are transferrable geographically and over time, and have the potential to inform current medical practice, such as transcervical sterilization with the Essure device, whose historiographic exploration remains a desideratum.
A paper was published in 2003 discussing the ethics of nurses participating in executions by inse... more A paper was published in 2003 discussing the ethics of nurses participating in executions by inserting the intravenous line for lethal injections and providing care until death. This paper was circulated on an international email list of senior nurses and academics to engender discussion. From that discussion, several people agreed to contribute to a paper expressing their own thoughts and feelings about the ethics of nurses participating in executions in countries where capital punishment is legal. While a range of opinions were presented, these opinions fell into two main themes. The first of these included reflections on the philosophical obligations of nurses as caregivers who support those in times of great need, including condemned prisoners at the end of life. The second theme encompassed the notion that no nurse ever should participate in the active taking of life, in line with the codes of ethics of various nursing organisations. This range of opinions suggests the complexi...
This study identifies social determinants of HIV infection, hotspot areas and subpopulation group... more This study identifies social determinants of HIV infection, hotspot areas and subpopulation groups in Ethiopia. The study used data from the 2011 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS). Sample blood tests from the finger pricks collected on filter paper cards were labelled with a barcode unique to each respondent. Spatial scan statistics and geographic information system tools were used to map hotspot areas of HIV prevalence. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression models were used to identify social determinants of HIV infection. A total of 30 625 adults (16 515 women and 14 110 men) were included from 11 administrative states of Ethiopia. Laboratory-confirmed HIV serostatus is the main outcome variable. HIV prevalence reached 10-21% in the central, eastern and western geographic clusters of Ethiopia. Multivariable analysis showed that individuals who were in the middle, richer and richest wealth quintiles had increased odds of having HIV over those in the poorest quintile. Adults who had primary, secondary and higher educational levels had higher odds of being HIV positive than non-educated individuals. The odds of having HIV were higher among adults who had multiple lifetime sexual partners than those with a single partner. An increasing odds of HIV infection were observed among adults in the age groups of 25-29, 30-34, 35-39 and 40-45 years compared with adults in the age group of 45-49 years. Merchants had higher odds of being HIV positive than those who were not employed. The odds of having HIV were higher among urban residents and females than among rural residents and males, respectively. This study found statistically significant HIV concentrations in administrative zones of central, eastern and western Ethiopia. Geospatial monitoring and targeting of prevention strategies for specific population groups is recommended.
Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, 2007
ABSTRACT As the number of Holocaust survivors who are able to tell their histories decreases, the... more ABSTRACT As the number of Holocaust survivors who are able to tell their histories decreases, the urgency increases to leave a record of their experiences. It is this that has motivated Dr. Rochelle Saidel to document the experiences of the inmates of Ravensbrück concentration camp and, in particular, those of the Jewish inmates of Ravensbrück. In so doing, she has provided a well-researched account that is valuable both to scholars of the Holocaust and to friends and descendants of the Jewish women of Ravensbrück. Dr. Saidel is the founder of the Remember the Women Institute, which is dedicated to the remembrance of the women of Ravensbrück and to the continued historical research of this unique camp and its enormously strong inmate population. This book exemplifies the purpose of this Institute. In parallel to the narratives of the survivors is the narrative of the struggle to realize the Jewish identity of the inmates through history and through recognition at the Mahn- und Gedenkstätte Ravensbrück. Dr. Saidel began making contact with the survivors at the 50th anniversary of the camp's liberation in 1995. She was able to contact other Jewish survivors with the assistance of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, which provided a mailing list of survivors as well as a cover letter for her initial contact. From this list of 300 survivors, Dr. Saidel received sixty replies, with most women completing the questionnaire and often supplying additional names. Dr. Saidel has interviewed many of these Jewish survivors and their descendants in Brazil, Europe, the U.S., and Israel. Of the 132,000 prisoners of Ravensbrück, 117,000 were killed or died there. Jewish women were a minority among the inmates of Ravensbrück, comprising about 20 percent of the population, and their story has heretofore never been told. And although there are memorials to these prisoners at Ravensbrück, they are grouped according to nationality. As recently as 1980, the Jewish prisoners were not memorialized separately but together with their fellow inmates of a nation, with often inappropriate results—the Polish Jews were memorialized as a part of all Polish prisoners in a room with a large crucifix. It was this lack of singular identification that motivated Dr. Saidel to begin her research into the lives, and often deaths, of the Jewish inmates of Ravensbrück. Now there is a Jewish memorial at the camp, and this book, too, serves as a memorial to these women. Beginning with a history of the camp, Dr. Saidel describes what she refers to as "a special hell for women." Indeed, Ravensbrück was unique in that it was built for female resisters and political prisoners. At the beginning, it was not a camp designed to implement the "final solution" but rather a place for females to work as slave laborers as they were being punished for their politics. Dr. Saidel provides the background for understanding this "special hell for women" and describes the particular cruelty of inmates having to work as draft animals pulling rollers to pave the streets and of being punished by having to stand for hours on ice in the bunker. There is a description of the camp's population as delineated by their triangular badges: Political prisoners (German, French, Polish, Dutch, and Soviet), British spies, Jehovah's Witnesses, Asocials, and Criminals. Jews wore a yellow triangle and were often brought to Ravensbrück as political prisoners. Their educational and economic backgrounds ranged from professor to peasant. The narratives provided by survivors in The Jewish Women of Ravensbrück Concentration Camp are rich in detail. Of particular interest are the aspects of survivorship that are attributed uniquely to women, such as the sharing of recipes, the development of strong friendships and surrogate families, communal childcare, and the exchange of gifts. There is a very moving display at the Ravensbrück memorial of these small handmade gifts that exemplifies a uniquely female custom in the camps. Among the most interesting narratives is the story of Gemma LaGuardia Gluck. She was an American citizen and the sister of the mayor of New York City, Fiorello LaGuardia, and was married to a Hungarian Jew...
This study was conducted to determine the frequency of breast self-examination (BSE), clinical br... more This study was conducted to determine the frequency of breast self-examination (BSE), clinical breast examination, and mammography of adult daughters of women with breast cancer. Additionally, the relationships among frequency of self-examination, clinical examination, perceived risk, fear of breast cancer, and frequency of talking with their mothers about breast cancer were assessed. A retrospective, correlational descriptive design was used. Questionnaires were mailed to members of a breast cancer support group and to women diagnosed with breast cancer in one medical oncology practice. These women were asked to mail the questionnaires to their adult daughters. There was a significant relationship between frequency of BSE and frequency of talking with mothers about breast cancer. Frequency of self-examination was related inversely to fear of breast cancer. Fear of breast cancer appears to act as a barrier to action whereas frequency of talking with their mothers about breast cancer...
This historical research report presents and analyzes 2 recently identified narratives of women w... more This historical research report presents and analyzes 2 recently identified narratives of women who underwent sterilization experiments at the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II. A description of the historical and contextual background is presented in which involvement of the prisoner nurse occurred in the sterilization experiments. Using a critical feminist perspective, the ethics of nursing involvement are discussed in these experiments, with an emphasis on the political dimension. Salient implications are explored for contemporary nursing.
Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany on 1 September 1939 and World War II began on 3 September. Pol... more Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany on 1 September 1939 and World War II began on 3 September. Polish nurses have their place in this difficult history. In the first months of occupation, nurses focused on caring for wounded soldiers. In order to protect them from prisoner-of-war camps and execution, nurses sought safe havens for the wounded in private homes and transported them there. After their regular jobs, the nurses visited them, changed their dressings and provided them with civilian clothes so that soldiers could eventually escape. This paper describes the work of two of these nurses, Wanda Ossowska and Stanisława Leszczyńska. The first three authors (BD, SH, AJS) were nurses in Poland at that time and they present some of the information in this paper as primary source data.
This article examines the actions and testimonies of 14 nurses who killed psychiatric patients at... more This article examines the actions and testimonies of 14 nurses who killed psychiatric patients at the state hospital of Meseritz-Obrawalde in the Nazi 'euthanasia' program. The nurses provided various reasons for their decisions to participate in the killings. An ethical analysis of the testimonies demonstrates that a belief in the relief of suffering, the notion that the patients would 'benefit' from death, their selection by physicians for the 'treatment' of 'euthanasia', and a perceived duty to obey unquestioningly the orders of physicians were the primary ethical reasons that were stated for their behavior. However, 20 years had elapsed between the killings and the trial, thus giving ample opportunity for the defendants to develop comfortable rationales for their actions and for their attorneys to have observed successful defenses of others accused of euthanasia.
Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, 1998
This article explores the historical, ethical, and legal antecedents of assisted suicide. Followi... more This article explores the historical, ethical, and legal antecedents of assisted suicide. Following a differentiation between assisted suicide and euthanasia, the historical aspects of suicide in the United States and other countries are described. Four cardinal principles form the basis for the ethical consideration of practice: autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice. Respect for autonomy is essential to the care of dying patients. However, the exercise of autonomy does not necessarily place an obligation to act on others. This could be important in the consideration of a request to a nurse for assistance in suicide. Nonmaleficence may also be a principle involved in decisions to discontinue treatments that are unwanted by the individual. Beneficence, the prevention of harm or the doing of good, may be in conflict with the respect for autonomy when one considers assisted suicide. Although one may wish to alleviate the suffering, assisting with death as a means of ending the suffering may violate the principle of beneficence even though the individual may, in his or her autonomy, request death. Justice describes what individuals are legitimately entitled to, but individual justice may be abridged by the utilitarian model of justice for society overall. Most states send ambivalent messages about the legal status of assisted suicide. Although many states criminalize assisted suicide, state prosecution of assisted suicide is not common. Furthermore, many juries have found those accused of murder or manslaughter in these instances "not guilty." A summary of the laws of each state related to assisted suicide is included.
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