ABSTRACT
Claude Bernard wrote his Introduction when illness had forced him to take some time off. He makes some remarks that could very well be associated with what happened at Auschwitz and jugded at Nuremberg. Since the implications concern the place the “Nuremberg Code” should occupy within contemporary ethical debates relating to medicine in particular and to health in general. At Nuremberg the Hippocratic deontology prescribing the rules for the profession gave way to ethical principles questioning the practice of this profession. Indeed, Nuremberg represents the arrival of the crimes committed by the Nazis in the public domain. Bernard makes some remarks that could very well be associated with what happened at Auschwitz and jugded at Nuremberg. The influence of Bernard’s work on Carrel as well as the attachment of the latter to the grand master of experimental methods are undeniable.
