Medical eponyms, or conditions that are named after former physician leaders and experts in medicine, often have dark roots — and although their continued phase-out is supported by top medical groups including the American Psychiatric Association and the World Health Organization, some experts argue against this, The New York Times reported June 19.
Conditions including Asperger’s syndrome, Clara cells and Reiter's syndrome can all be linked back to physicians who were Nazis. Removing this terminology, some say, is "correcting history," according to The Times.
However, others like Sabine Hildebrandt, MD, an anatomical educator at Harvard Medical School in Boston, argue that preserving the terminology is important and can also serve as a reminder of a dark history that should never be repeated in medicine.
"I would like to see them not as badges of honor, necessarily, but as historical markers — as teaching moments," Dr. Hildebrandt told The Times.
Still, there are many voices calling for the erasure of these terms as they often do not even honor the correct individuals. For instance, in the case of Asperger's syndrome, Lorna Wing a British psychiatrist was found to have conducted much more extensive research into the condition than its namesake, Dr. Hans Asperger.
"Trying to keep an eponym and strip it of its honorific meaning is probably really, really challenging," Jason Wasserman, PhD, a bioethicist at the Oakland University School of Medicine in Rochester, Mich., told The Times. "Built into medical culture is the glory of the discovery."