closed cases

Description:

The text used on these latex sheets is of testimonies, confessions, letters, interview statements, hearings, and depositions by doctors reporting on human medical experiments they were actively involved in. The experiments mentioned here involve questionable procurement of organs, dubious consent obtained (or not obtained) of research subjects, or exploitation of vulnerable populations. The cases range from World War II radiation experiments to pharmaceutical drug testing in the 21st century. Whether corporate clinical trials or government experiments, whether motivated by economic gain, scientific progress, ideology or national defense, the research subjects typically belong to economically or otherwise disadvantaged communities. 

Visitors can lift sheets to read them.

Wall label:

1. Pain-management studies in postoperative patients at Harvard, 1950s
   Dr. Louis Lasagna, interview by Jon M. Harkness and Suzanne White-Junod (ACHRE), transcript of audio recording, 13 December 1994, 13.

2. Biomedical research using poor patients, 1920s-1950s
   Dr. Paul Beeson, interview by Susan E. Lederer (ACHRE), transcript of audio recording, 20 November 1994, 39.

3. Roche Pharmaceutical on organ transplantations in Clinical Trials in China, 2008 to 2010
   Roche Business Report 2010, “Corporate Responsibility,” 113.

4. Medical studies done in the 1950s and 1960s at various US institutions
   Shimon Glick and Howard B. Burchell. “Letters to the Editor.” Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 40, no. 2 (1997): 314-16.

5. Inoculations of syphilis on prisoners in Guatemala, in 1947
   John C. Cutler to R. C. Arnold, 5 June 1947, Box 1, Folder 13, Cutler Papers. 

6. Dermatological experiments conducted on inmates at Holmesburg Prison, PA, 1950s – 1960s
   Dr. Albert Kligman quoted in Adolph Katz, “Prisoners Volunteer to Save Lives,” Philadelphia Bulletin, February 27, 1966.

7. Army-sponsored experiments with hallucinogens administered to healthy subjects, 1952 and 1954
   Dr. Louis Lasagna, interview by Jon M. Harkness and Suzanne White-Junod (ACHRE), transcript of audio recording, 13 December 1994, 11.

8. Medical experiments on Holmesburg Prison inmates, PA, 1950s
   Dr. Albert Kligman quoted in Herman Beerman and Gerald Lazarus, The Tradition of Excellence: Dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania 1870– 1985 (U of P Press, 1986), p. 132.

9. Follow-up studies of hospitalized patients injected with plutonium, 1945-47
   Robert E. Rowland, Ph.D., to Miriam Bowling (ACHRE Staff), 7 August 1995, 1.