About G.A. Lindeboom
Gerrit Arie Lindeboom (1905-1986) received his MD from the Municipal University of Amsterdam in 1929, and his Ph.D. in Medicine in 1930. From then on he specialised in Internal Medicine. In 1950 he was appointed to the chair of General Pathology, Introduction to Clinical Medicine and Encyclopaedia of Medical Science at the Free University of Amsterdam. From 1955 on he taught Internal Medicine there as well. In 1951 he founded the Medical Encyclopaedic Institute at the Free University of which he was president until 1979.
He has written over six hundred books and articles, approximately one-third on various medical issues, and about two-thirds on the history of medical science. His study of the life and works of the well-known Dutch physician Herman Boerhaave received international appraisal.
He has also published on medical ethics. In 1960 his ‘Essays on Medical Ethics’ appeared. His ethical point of view was founded on the Bible. In the light of this source of inspiration, he resisted the collapse of traditional ethics in medicine. Witness thereof can be found in his books ‘God and Donkey’, 1967, ‘Liberal Abortion’, 1978 and ‘Euthanasia and Euthanasianism’, 1979.
He has written over six hundred books and articles, approximately one-third on various medical issues, and about two-thirds on the history of medical science. His study of the life and works of the well-known Dutch physician Herman Boerhaave received international appraisal.
He has also published on medical ethics. In 1960 his ‘Essays on Medical Ethics’ appeared. His ethical point of view was founded on the Bible. In the light of this source of inspiration, he resisted the collapse of traditional ethics in medicine. Witness thereof can be found in his books ‘God and Donkey’, 1967, ‘Liberal Abortion’, 1978 and ‘Euthanasia and Euthanasianism’, 1979.
A selection of his medical ethical work is published in his honour as the first volume of the ‘Lindeboom Series’ of the Institute, entitled ‘Medical Ethics in Turmoil’, 1993. Motivated by his Christian faith, he showed his commitment to the vindication of a deep respect for human life by participating in the foundation of various organisations, such as the Vereniging tot Bescherming van het Ongeboren Kind (‘Association for the Protection of the Unborn Child’, 1979) and the Nederlands Artsen Verbond (‘Dutch Federation of Doctors’, 1972). In 1978 he initiated the Stichting Ethica Medica, thereby laying the foundation for the centre for medical ethics that one-day would bear his name.
