Current dissertations

Institute of History, Ethics and Philosophy of Medicine

Doctoral candidate

Lina Stünkel

Working title of the dissertation

Eponyms in medicine - naming, use and problematization

Abstract

In medicine, diseases, cells and medical tests are named after the scientists who discovered or first described these anatomical or clinical phenomena. These names are called eponyms. Eponyms from the Nazi era are particularly ethically controversial and are still relevant today. All medical eponyms should be recorded as completely as possible with the biography of the eponym and discussed with regard to the question of what should be done with them and whether there are possible alternative names for the perpetrator eponyms.

The second part of my dissertation deals with the current debate about the ethically questionable Nazi eponyms and their possible renaming. In it, I deal with the international symposium organized in Rome in 2015 by the Italian physician Cesare Efrati in collaboration with La Sapienza University, at which the renaming of selected eponyms was discussed and the reaction of various institutions in this country.

I also shed light on the extent to which the discussion about certain eponyms is currently being incorporated into medical training and whether there is an internal clinical debate. Medical societies and specialist journals play an important role here, as it is primarily there that the discussion about the handling of eponyms takes place. The aim of my dissertation is to show, by analyzing the current theses and statements of various scientists as well as the authors and editors of the journals, how the viewpoints of the protagonists have developed historically and how they currently position themselves in the medical community on the use of NS eponyms.