[Theodor Kocher: surgery and ethics].

Theodor Kocher's (1841-1917) creative participation in the rise of modern surgery and his internationally prominent standing therein at the turn of the century are briefly outlined. Kocher experienced, however, the last decade of his career as a period of transition. First new developments within medicine and surgery questioned some of the new "radical" operations by then seen as sole progressive therapeutic possibilities. Second, new emotional and ethical conflicts ensued for the solution of which the traditional ethos (viz. "to help and to do no harm") was felt to be insufficient: The choice between two therapeutic possibilities and the unjustice of socially stratified treatment. Kocher tried to cope with this transition scientifically by promoting basic research, emotionally and ethically by explicitly stressing his long familiar Christian faith.