Wellesley professor unearths a horror: Syphilis experiments in Guatemala US apologizes for performing unethical study in 1940s By Stephen Smith, Globe Staff | October 2, 2010
Picking through musty files in a Pennsylvania archive, a Wellesley College professor made a heart-stopping discovery: US government scientists in the 1940s deliberately infected hundreds of Guatemalans with syphilis and gonorrhea in experiments conducted without the subjects’ permission.
Medical historian Susan M. Reverby happened upon the documents four or five years ago while researching the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study and later shared her findings with US government officials.
The unethical research was not publicly disclosed until yesterday, when President Obama and two Cabinet secretaries apologized to Guatemala’s government and people and pledged to never repeat the mistakes of the past — an era when it was not uncommon for doctors to experiment on patients without their consent.
Even so, Reverby found in the files a story of almost singular exploitation and deception, conducted in a foreign land because, the nation’s surgeon general at the time acknowledged, it could not have been done in the United States.
“I was just completely blown away,’’ Reverby said in an interview. “I was floored.’’
In Tuskegee, scientists knew African-American sharecroppers had become infected with syphilis but withheld treatment, in the name of tracking the progression of the disease. In Guatemala, prisoners, soldiers, and inmates in mental asylums were willfully infected, sometimes by using prostitutes provided by the scientists, sometimes by pouring the germs onto skin abrasions the researchers caused.
The US scientists — who had received the blessings of Guatemalan health authorities — were among the leading lights in the field of sexually transmitted disease research. Flush with optimism in the dawning era of antibiotic treatment, they decided to expose vulnerable subjects to further their understanding of the effectiveness of the new drugs in treating sexually transmitted diseases. From 1946 to 1948, they tested their theories on about 1,500 Guatemalans; most who became infected received treatment, but at least one died....................>>>>................>>>>.............http://www.boston.com/news/loc.....iments_in_guatemala/
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October 2, 2010, 6:24am
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To be honest, I never knew what the "Tuskegee Experiment" was. If done by US Doctors, this is despicable, and probably, so far, one of the only things the American Government has apologized for that actually warranted an apology.
The US scientists — who had received the blessings of Guatemalan health authorities —
And did the Guatemalan Government apologize to THEIR citizens for allowing it?
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
I think what matters is that WE did the right thing (albeit it was to correct something we did wrong) - instead of blaming someone else before ourselves.
Sorry, but I'm not going to apologize for something that happened before I was even born. The responsibility rests solely on the Guatemala government. It was ultimately THEIR job to protect their citizens!
I may feel bad, but I clearly do not feel responsible, enough to apologize!
Just another pathetic apology from the obama administration!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Sorry, but I'm not going to apologize for something that happened before I was even born. The responsibility rests solely on the Guatemala government. It was ultimately THEIR job to protect their citizens!
I may feel bad, but I clearly do not feel responsible, enough to apologize!
Just another pathetic apology from the obama administration!
As much as I agree with your basic idea there, I can't criticize Democrats for "blaming Bush" or Farley or previous administrations (maybe before I was born) for the hardships we are, or have faced - and not accept responsibility when we (as a nation) did something to another.
We, as a people did the right thing by apologizing in this instance. I do not see ALL apologies from this administration in this light. For instance, I don't feel there was a need to apologize for slavery (gasp!). It was part of our heritage - and still exists today. Yes, I feel bad that the "colored" people of the time were mistreated, but I don't think there's a need for an apology from the nation. If white families, who had slaves "back in the day", want to apologize to the black families that they had direct interaction with (in their lineage) - that's fine. In fact, in this list of "apologies" (http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=32296) I can't find one that I agree with, but I do with the events of Tuskegee.
Amazing... Some of these posts remind me of the Nazi's... "we were just following orders"...
Every American is responsible for what is done in our name. The US govt is an extension of it's citizens. To say that "their govt sanctioned this atrocity" is as good a cop out as was used in Germany concerning the Jews.
The event happened. We can either duck responsibility for ir, or we can apologize for the crime, take actions to prevent this type of behavior in the future, and move on.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
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