How the humanities shape medical culture: Knowing Wegener and other Nazi eponyms

While the medical humanities have experienced a renaissance, they are still largely a peripheral component of medical education. This is troublesome because the humanities include a number of disciplines that are foundational in understanding medicine and how it should be practiced. Nonetheless, current medical culture makes it difficult to fully incorporate the humanities into curriculum. We therefore propose an incremental approach to shaping the medical culture that can easily be incorporated into daily teaching as opposed to designing additional classes and resources that must be added to existing educational structures. An example of this approach is reviewed here through teaching historical and ethical lessons surrounding Nazi eponyms. The use of names like Wegener provide brief opportunities for sidebars during clinical lectures to remind learners that empirical data do not provide ethical direction and that our medical history has included atrocities that remind us to practice conscientiously. We provide other examples that can be included in daily learning. This approach eschews the burdens associated with large curricular changes, such as student resistance/apathy and logistical barriers, and can be easily implemented. It also enables change to be gradual and through structures that have already been established, allowing learners to see the benefits of insights from the humanities in small, digestible segments. Through this approach, medical culture can be shaped towards a greater appreciation toward the medical humanities.