Dominik Gross

Egas Moniz (1874–1955) and the “invention” of modern psychosurgery: a historical and ethical reanalysis under special consideration of Portuguese original sources

The Portuguese neurologist Egas Moniz (1874-1955) is often regarded as the founder of psychosurgery. He performed the first prefrontal leukotomy in 1935—about 75 years ago—with the help of neurosurgeon Almeida Lima (1903–1985) [corrected]. In contrast to the psychosurgical interventions performed by the Swiss psychiatrist Gottlieb Burckhardt (1836-1907), Monizs interventions on the white brain substance caught great attention worldwide. As a matter of fact, it was this repercussion that led to the award of the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1949, an award that is still highly controversial today. The goal of the present article is to reconstruct the historical background of the first leukotomies, the tangible expert debate since 1935 on the indication and legitimacy of these interventions, and their contemporary and recent (ethical) evaluation. Special focus will be set on the original Portuguese literature, which has been given too little attention thus far in the English-language literature.

Neuroenhancement - A Controversial Topic in Contemporary Medical Ethics

Neuroenhancement will become an important topic of medical ethics in future years and decades, due to the increasing insights of neuroscience into the functions of the brain and the growing possibilities of meaningful interventions. Consequently, several crucial topics need to be discussed in order to address this emerging issue, and these topics correspond to the following sections of this article:

Anatomy in Cologne – Institutional development and body supply from the Weimar Republic to the early post-war period

The Anatomical Institute of the University of Cologne was founded in 1925. This paper highlights its institutional development and the sources from which it procured bodies for dissection. A comparison is drawn between the first years of the institutes existence during the Weimar Republic (1925-1932) and its rebuilding after war damage in the early post-war period (1947-1954). The institute and its procurement of bodies have not previously been investigated for these two time periods. The Third Reich, for which a detailed study already exists, will be mentioned as well to allow better evaluation of the periods before and after National Socialism. Based on newly evaluated archival material and body journals which will be examined both quantitatively and qualitatively, it becomes apparent that the Cologne institute experienced a chronic shortage of bodies both during the Weimar Republic and the first post-war decade (even though the delivery facilities were mostly the same). However, the situation of the institute in terms of structure, organization and personnel as well as body supply in the aftermath of World War II proved much more challenging than during the time of the Weimar Republic.

Deus ex machina or e-slave? Public perception of healthcare robotics in the German print media.

OBJECTIVES The news media plays a central role in providing information regarding new medical technologies and exerts an influence on their social perception, understanding, and assessments. This study, therefore, analyzes how healthcare robotics are portrayed in the German print news media. It examines whether the risks and opportunities of new medical technologies are presented in a balanced manner and investigates whether or not print media coverage of these technologies is affected by science-fiction discourse, in which robots appear mostly as a threat to humans. METHODS Ten years of German print media coverage (2000-2010) have been studied by means of systematic, standardized content analysis. RESULTS Reporting focuses predominantly on beneficial advancements in medical practice and the advantages of robotics for patients, medical staff, and society. The results show that the dominant relationship between robots and humans that is transmitted in print media in medical contexts is positive, with robots mostly portrayed as assistants, colleagues, or even friends. Only a small number of articles report ethical questions and risks. CONCLUSIONS In contrast to science-fiction discourse, the German print media provides a positive picture of robotics to the lay public.

Public Understanding of Neural Prosthetics in Germany: Ethical, Social, and Cultural Challenges

Since the development of the first neural prosthesis, that is, the cochlear implant in 1957, neural prosthetics have been one of the highly promising, yet most challenging areas of medicine, while having become a clinically accepted form of invasiveness into the human body. Neural prosthetic devices, of which at least one part is inserted into the body, interact directly with the nervous system to restore or replace lost or damaged sensory, motor, or cognitive functions. This field is not homogenous and encompasses a variety of technologies, which are in various stages of development. Some devices are well established in clinical practice and have become routine, such as cochlear implants. By comparison, other technologies are in experimental phases and still need to be further developed to achieve the desired results.

Social profile and attitudes of cryonics advocates and deniers in Germany: a representative study

Abstract The present study deals with the socio-demographic characteristics and attitudes towards life and death of people who can imagine having their bodies cryopreserved after their deaths. Cryopreservation is the process of freezing someone immediately after death with a view to reviving them in the future. One thousand people from the access panel of Harris Interactive were surveyed on this subject. Particular attention is paid here to the comparison of the advocates of cryonics with those who reject this process for themselves. The study showed that attitudes towards death – particularly those which are associated with fear of death – can explain the preference to be cryopreserved after one’s death. Conversely, people who hope that an afterlife exists, tend to refuse cryopreservation. These findings were confirmed by a Mann–Whitney U-test, which shows significant statistical differences of those attitudes.

ATTITUDES AND ACCEPTANCE TOWARD THE TECHNOLOGY OF CRYONICS IN GERMANY

Objectives: This study explores the awareness and the degree of acceptance of the idea of the medical technology cryonics-the freezing of a corpse to revive it in the future-among German citizens. Methods: Data were collected on the basis of a representatively weighted online survey of 1,000 people aged between 16 and 69 years and resident in the Federal Republic of Germany. Results: Forty-seven percent stated that they had already heard of cryonics; 22 percent could imagine having their bodies cryonized after their deaths. For 53 percent, participation in the latest technological developments which correlated with the approval of the conceivability of cryopreservation was important. The majority of the respondents were not skeptical or cautious about innovations in the medical field. Conclusions: The study shows that cryonics is known and accepted to a certain extent. However, a large proportion of respondents did not believe that it was desirable to use medical technology to overcome death, and fundamentally rejected a post-mortal continuation of life.

Mobile phone health risk policy in Germany: The role of the federal government and the Federal Office for Radiation Protection

Abstract In order to establish a regulatory framework for a given technology important to society, the government must make decisions in the face of existing unknowingness. In the last decade, health risks originating from electromagnetic fields of mobile telecommunication transmitting stations and devices have become a regulation policy issue in Germany. This article investigates the role of the government and the Federal Office for Radiation Protection in regard to policy-making by analysing publications and Federal Parliament reports, hearings and debates. The government and Federal Parliament perceived the research situation in 2001 as insufficient in the absence of hard evidence for health impairment. Against this background, the government struck a compromise with mobile telecommunication network operators, who did not want to integrate stricter limit values for transmission stations as precautionary measures. The network operators’ voluntary self-commitment included financing half the budget of the German Mobile Telecommunication Research Programme (2002–2008) under the lead management of the Federal Office for Radiation Protection, which concluded that it was not required to change the position taken in 2001. The results of this programme provided the basis to continue the agreement of that year. With regard to health issues and all the other interests involved, this agreement was an acceptable and remarkably stable compromise.