De oorlog van Bastiaans; een ontnuchterende spiegel

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Recently Bram Enning published his thesis about the Leiden professor J. Bastiaans. After the Second World War Bastiaans treated resistance fighters with a controversial method that involved the use of LSD. AIM: To paint a picture of Bastiaans' career and working method and of the controversies that his method caused. METHOD: Enning 's thesis is discussed. RESULTS: It is revealing to read how unscientific Bastiaans' method actually was and it is shocking to see how politics did its utmost to defend his method. CONCLUSION: The case of Bastiaans makes it clear that in our society scientific values are apparently less relevant than political and social desirability.