The Transformation of Physicians from Healers to Killers: The Role of Psychiatry

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter will examine the direct and systematic involvement of psychiatry in the labeling, persecution and eventual mass murder of millions of those deemed “unfit.” While the entire medical profession can and should be held accountable for the abrogation of ethics that took place during the Holocaust, the role of psychiatrists, specifically, must be explored because of their ability to conflate clinical diagnoses with the worth of an individual. The theory of eugenics allowed psychiatry to provide the scientific justification and the practical mechanisms for the “mercy killing” of “life unworthy of life.” The leadership and expertise of psychiatrists paved the way for a powerful merger of medicine and politics that ultimately led to the mass murder of millions under the guise of scientific and societal progress.