About the work
Ärztinnen (Women Doctors) is a five-act play by Rolf Hochhuth, published in print in 1979 and premiered on 9 November 1980 at the Nationaltheater Mannheim, directed by Jürgen Bosse.
Plot
An experienced physician loses her position at a pharmaceutical company after refusing to cover up flaws in a drug; her ambitious daughter, a hospital doctor, researches a risky lung-shock prophylaxis that causes at least one death. The moral failings of both women culminate in the death of a shared family member, a seventeen-year-old son and grandson.
Cultural significance
As in Der Stellvertreter, Hochhuth examines personal responsibility against economic pressure, here in the pharmaceutical industry and drug research; compared with his earlier successes, the play has remained a niche work with few productions.