Editing Doctors' Trial (section)

{{distinguish|Doctors' plot|clinical trial}}
{{for|a list of Nazi doctors|List of Nazi doctors}}
{{more footnotes|date=December 2021}}
{{short description|Post-World War II trial of German doctors for war crimes}}
{{Infobox court case
|name               = {{noitalic|Doctors' Trial}}
|court              = [[Palace of Justice (Nuremberg)|Palace of Justice]], Nuremberg
|image              = File:Courtroom during the Doctors' trial.jpg
|imagesize          = 300px
|imagelink          =
|imagealt           =
|caption            = Courtroom at the trial, 12 December 1946
|full name          = United States of America v. [[Karl Brandt]] et al.
|start_date         = {{start date|1946|12|09|df=y}}
|date decided       = 20 August 1947
|citations          =
|ECLI               =
|transcripts        =
|judges             = {{Plainlist|
* [[Walter B. Beals]] (presiding)
* [[Harold L. Sebring]]
* [[Johnson T. Crawford]]
* Victor C. Swearingen (alternate)
}}
|number of judges   = 3
|decision by        =
|italic title = no
}}

'''''United States of America v. Karl Brandt, et al.''''', commonly known as the '''Doctors' Trial''', was the first of the twelve "[[Subsequent Nuremberg trials]]" for [[war crimes]] and [[crimes against humanity]] after the end of [[World War II]] between 1946 and 1947. The accused were 20 [[physician]]s and 3 [[SS]] officials charged for their involvement in the [[Aktion T4]] programme and [[Nazi human experimentation]].

The Doctors' Trial was held by [[United States]] authorities at the [[Palace of Justice, Nuremberg|Palace of Justice]] in [[Nuremberg]] in the [[American occupation zone in Germany|American occupation zone]] before US [[military court]]s, not before the [[International Military Tribunal]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/index.php?ModuleId=10007035 |title=The Doctors Trial: The Medical Case of the Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings |publisher=[[United States Holocaust Memorial Museum]], Washington, D.C. |encyclopedia=Holocaust Encyclopedia}}</ref> Seven of the accused were sentenced to [[death by hanging]], five were sentenced to [[life imprisonment]], four were given prison sentences from 10 to 20 years, and seven were [[Acquittal|acquitted]].

The judges, heard before Military Tribunal I, were [[Walter B. Beals]] (presiding judge) from [[Washington (state)|Washington]], [[Harold L. Sebring]] from [[Florida]], and [[Johnson T. Crawford]] from [[Oklahoma]], with Victor C. Swearingen, a former special assistant to the [[Attorney General of the United States]], as an alternate judge. The Chief of Counsel for the Prosecution was [[Telford Taylor]] and the chief prosecutor was James M. McHaney.  The [[indictment]] was filed on 25 October 1946; the trial lasted from 9 December that year until 20 August 1947.

{{Eugenics sidebar|expanded=History}}