History, Ethics and the Presidential Commission on Research in Guatemala

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History, Ethics and the Presidential Commission on Research in Guatemala

What is this about?

In 2010, President Obama instructed the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues to enquire into research carried out by the US Public Health Service in Guatemala between 1946 and 1948. These studies entailed the deliberate inoculation of unconsenting prisoners, mental asylum patients and soldiers, with venereal disease. There was also evidence of deception and secrecy. The Commission’s report describes the research as heinous, egregious, unconscionable and unjustifiable, and identified those responsible as morally blameworthy. However, this article argues that the Commission was deficient in its historical analysis, and failed to appreciate particular disease and temporal factors that might cast the research in a slightly different light.

This is a factual case.

Why is this important?

It is important to be critical about the Commission's analysis.

Journal

For whom is this important?

Researchers

Other information

Who

• Dr John C. Cutler
• Carlos Funes

When

• 1946

Where

• Guatemala

Virtues & Values

• Respect

Good Practices & Misconduct

• Patient safety
• Equipoise
• Informed consent
• Vulnerable population

Research Area

• Clinical medicine