In Memoriam: Widukind Lenz, 1919-1995

Opitz, John M.; Wiedemann, H. R.

doi:10.1002/(sici)1096-8628(19961016)65:2<142::aid-ajmg12>3.0.co;2-q

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“…After studying medicine in Tubingen, Berlin and Prague (1937–1943), Lenz held positions in the Paediatrics Department, University of Hamburg, and later was chair in Human Genetics (1961). He subsequently became Professor and Director at the Institute for Human Genetics in Munster (1965–1984) (Opitz and Wiedemann 1996).…”

Section: Thalidomidementioning

confidence: 99%

Causes of birth defects: Lessons from history

Lancaster

2011

Congenital Anomalies

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Environmental causes of birth defects have increasingly been recognized since the mid-20th century. The teratogenic effects of maternal infections such as rubella and therapeutic drugs such as thalidomide were first reported by alert clinicians. Among clinicians and researchers who have contributed significantly to our knowledge of these environmental causes, Norman Gregg was a Sydney ophthalmologist whose seminal study in 1941 identified maternal rubella as a cause of birth defects. The teratogenic effects of thalidomide were first noted in 1961 by William McBride, a Sydney obstetrician, and independently confirmed by Widukind Lenz, a German pediatrician. Marsh Edwards, an Australian veterinary scientist, showed experimentally that maternal hyperthermia caused birth defects in various animal species. While it is likely that alert individual clinicians or researchers will continue to signal the first clues about new environmental causes of birth defects, especially therapeutic drugs, it is now usually teams of laboratory researchers and epidemiologists who are more likely to provide definitive evidence of these new teratogens.

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Section: Thalidomidementioning

confidence: 99%

Causes of birth defects: Lessons from history

Lancaster

2011

Congenital Anomalies

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“…He was the first to recognize the thalidomide disaster and became an authority on limb malformations. He published extensively and had widely diversified interests, including, among others, growth and development, nutrition, sex determination, and gonadal function [Opitz and Wiedemann, 1996].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Overview of German, Nazi, and Holocaust medicine

Cohen

2010

American J of Med Genetics Pt A

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An overview of German, Nazi, and Holocaust medicine brings together a group of subjects discussed separately elsewhere. Topics considered include German medicine before and during the Nazi era, such as advanced concepts in epidemiology, preventive medicine, public health policy, screening programs, occupational health laws, compensation for certain medical conditions, and two remarkable guidelines for informed consent for medical procedures; also considered are the Nuremberg Code; American models for early Nazi programs, including compulsory sterilization, abusive medical experiments on prison inmates, and discrimination against black people; two ironies in US and Nazi laws; social Darwinism and racial hygiene; complicity of Nazi physicians, including the acts of sterilization, human experimentation, and genocide; Nazi persecution of Jewish physicians; eponyms of unethical German physicians with particular emphasis on Reiter, Hallervorden, and Pernkopf; eponyms of famous physicians who were Nazi victims, including Pick and van Creveld; and finally, a recommendation for convening an international committee of physicians and ethicists to deal with five issues: (a) to propose alternative names for eponyms of physicians who exhibited complicity during the Nazi era; (b) to honor the eponyms and stories of physicians who were victims of Nazi atrocities and genocide; (c) to apply vigorous pressure to those German and Austrian Institutes that have not yet undertaken investigations to determine if the bodies of Nazi victims remain in their collections; (d) to recommend holding annual commemorations in medical schools and research institutes worldwide to remember and to reflect on the victims of compromised medical practice, particularly, but not exclusively, during the Nazi era because atrocities and acts of genocide have occurred elsewhere; and (e) to examine the influence of any political ideology that compromises the practice of medicine.

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In Memoriam: Widukind Lenz, 1919-1995

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Cited by 2 publications

References 2 publications

Causes of birth defects: Lessons from history

Causes of birth defects: Lessons from history

Overview of German, Nazi, and Holocaust medicine

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