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September 20, 2016; 87 (12) Historical Neurology

Mercy killing in neurology

The beginnings of neurology on screen (II)

Eelco F.M. Wijdicks, Axel Karenberg
First published September 19, 2016, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000003134
Eelco F.M. Wijdicks
From the Department of Neurology (E.F.M.W.), Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN; and Institute for the History of Medicine and Medical Ethics (A.K.), University of Cologne, Germany.
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Axel Karenberg
From the Department of Neurology (E.F.M.W.), Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN; and Institute for the History of Medicine and Medical Ethics (A.K.), University of Cologne, Germany.
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Mercy killing in neurology
The beginnings of neurology on screen (II)
Eelco F.M. Wijdicks, Axel Karenberg
Neurology Sep 2016, 87 (12) 1289-1292; DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000003134

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Abstract

The history of Neurocinema includes neuroethics, and this theme was first used in 2 films released in the 1940s in both Germany and the United States. Ich Klage An (I Accuse) is about “terminal” multiple sclerosis in a young woman and the decision to determine one's own fate. The protagonist anticipates becoming “deaf, blind, and idiotic” and asks her husband to administer a toxic drug dose, which he does. The film disturbingly suggests that the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis is tantamount to a death sentence. Ich Klage An (1941) played during the medical murders era (“Aktion T-4” program) but has few references to National Socialism, except for judges with Nazi emblems on their robes making a brief Nazi salute and a jury chamber with a bust of Hitler. Party leadership agreed that the film made a deep impression, but the intended effect on the viewing public is largely unknown. An Act of Murder (1948) involves another young woman with an inoperable brain tumor. When her condition worsens during a trip, her husband deliberately crashes the car, killing her but surviving himself. A subsequent trial finds that she died of an overdose rather than the crash. The trial judge dismisses the murder charge, but the film argues the morals of mercy killing. These films came out during the Nazi euthanasia program and founding of the Euthanasia Society of America in 1938. The choice of neurologic disease by these filmmakers and scriptwriters to defend euthanasia is remarkable.

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  • Go to Neurology.org for full disclosures. Funding information and disclosures deemed relevant by the author, if any, are provided at the end of the article.

  • Received March 23, 2016.
  • Accepted in final form June 7, 2016.
  • © 2016 American Academy of Neurology
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