Research
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case
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country
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location
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year
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summary
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1880s
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Psychosurgery (also called neurosurgery for mental disorder)
has a long history. During the 1960s and 1970s, it became the subject of
increasing public concern and debate, culminating in the US with
congressional hearings. Particularly controversial was the work of Harvard
neurosurgeon Vernon Markand psychiatrist Frank Ervin, who wrote a book entitled Violence
and the Brain in 1970.[1] The National Commission for the
Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research in 1977
endorsed the continued limited use of psychosurgical procedures.[1][2]Since then, a few facilities in some
countries have continued to use psychosurgery on small numbers of patients.
In the US and other Western countries, the number of operations has further
declined over the past 30 years, a period during which there have been no
major advances in ablative psychosurgery.[3]
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United States
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1920s
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United States
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Iowa
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1939
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The Monster Study is the name given to a stuttering experiment
performed on orphan children in Davenport, Iowa in
1939. It was conducted by Wendell Johnson at
the University
of Iowa. The research began with the selection of 22 subjects from
a veterans' orphanage in Iowa. None were told the intent of the research, and
they believed that they were to receive speech therapy. The study was trying
to induce stuttering in healthy children. The experiment became national news
in the San Jose Mercury News in 2001, and a book
was written. On 17 August 2007, six of the orphan children were awarded
$925,000 by the State of Iowa for lifelong psychological and emotional scars
caused by six months of torment during the Iowa University experiment.
Although none of the children became stutterers, some became self-conscious
and reluctant to speak.[5] A spokesman for the University of Iowa
called the experiment "regrettable".
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Medical Experimentation on Black Americans[6]
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United States
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Various
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Occurred over many decades
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There has been a long history of medical experimentation on African Americans.
From the era of slavery, when atrocities were committed on black women
by J.
Marion Sims, to the present day, Black Americans have been
unwitting subjects of medical experimentation.[7][8] Author Harriet Washington argues that
"diverse forms of racial discrimination have shaped both the
relationship between white physicians and black patients and the attitude of
the latter towards modern medicine in general".[9]
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Plutonium injections
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United States
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1945-1947
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United States
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1946
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U.S./
Guatemala
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1946-48
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United States
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New York State
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1950s
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More than 1200
homeless men from Lower Manhattan were convinced with promises of food and
shelter to have their prostates biopsied by a Dr. Perry Hudson. They were not
informed of possible side effects, i.e., rectal tearing and impotence. The
homeless were targeted for these biopsies because the biopsies were painful
and untested, and less vulnerable populations would not volunteer.
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Radioactive iodine
experiments
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United States
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1950s
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United States
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1951
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A product derived
from a cancer patient's specimen, HeLa is the cornerstone of an industry.
Cancerous tissue was taken from her without her consent.
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United States
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Philadelphia
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1951-1974
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Canada
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1957–1964
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UK mental
institutions
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UK
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1960s
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In the 1960s, there
was abuse and inhumane treatment of psychiatric patients who were hidden away
in institutions in the UK. Barbara Robb documented
her difficult personal experience of being treated at Ely Hospital. She
wrote the book Sans Everything and she used this to launch a
campaign to improve or close long stay facilities. Shortly after, a long stay
hospital for the mentally handicapped in Cardiff was exposed by a nurse
writing to the News of the World. This exposure prompted an
official inquiry, which was highly critical of conditions, staff morale, and
management. At the same time Michael
Ignatieff and Peter Townsend both published books which
exposed the poor quality of institutional care.[16]
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United States
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1961
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1962-1979
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Controversial
Australian psychiatrist Harry
Bailey treated mental patients via deep
sleep therapy and other methods at a Sydney mental hospital.
He has been linked with the deaths of 85 patients.[20] He committed suicide before he could
be punished.
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Soviet Union,
Romania,
Hungary,
Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and China
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1960s to 1980s
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Psychiatrists have
been involved in human rights abuses in states across the world when the
definitions of mental disease were expanded to include political
disobedience.[21]:6 In the period from the 1960s to 1986,
abuse of psychiatry for political purposes was reported to be systematic in
the Soviet Union and other Eastern European countries.[22]:66 Political abuse of psychiatry also
takes place in the People's Republic of China.[23] Psychiatric diagnoses such as the
diagnosis of "sluggish schizophrenia" in political
dissidents in the USSR were used for political purposes.[24]:77
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United States
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1971
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The Stanford prison
experiment was a study of the psychological effects
of becoming a prisoner or prison guard. The
experiment was conducted in August 1971 by a team of researchers led by
psychology professor Philip Zimbardo.[25] Participants took on the roles of
prisoners and guards in a mock prison situated
in the basement of the Stanford psychology building. Some of the prisoners
were subjected to psychological torture. Many of the prisoners
passively accepted psychological abuse, and Zimbardo himself permitted the
abuse to continue. Two of the prisoners quit the experiment early and the
entire experiment was abruptly stopped after only six days. Certain portions
of the experiment were filmed and excerpts of footage are publicly available.
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United States
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1970s
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Human radiation
experiments were directed by the United States Atomic Energy Commissionand
the Manhattan Project. In Nashville, pregnant women were given radioactive
mixtures. In Cincinnati, some 200 patients were irradiated over a period of
15 years. In Chicago, 102 people received injections of strontium and cesium
solutions. In Massachusetts, 74 schoolboys were fed oatmeal that contained
radioactive substances. In all of these cases, the subjects did not know what
was going on and did not give informed consent.[10] The government covered up most of
these radiation mishaps until 1993, when President Bill Clinton ordered
a change of policy. The resulting investigation was undertaken by the Advisory Committee on Human
Radiation Experiments. See The Plutonium Files.
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United States
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1972
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A 40-year experiment
conducted by the U.S. Public Health Service withheld standard medical advice
and treatment from a poor minority population with an easily treatable
disease. The experiment targeted black male farmers who were told they needed
to be treated for 'bad blood',[26] some of whom had previously
encountered syphilis. Others were intentionally given syphilis during the
course of the experiment. In addition to many fatalities, some children were
born with congenital syphilis due to the study.
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United States
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1976
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Researchers
commercialized a patient's discarded body parts. The man did not authorize
the use of his bodily tissues or fluids, and researchers did not obtain
informed consent. He did not want his donation to generate commercial profit
for private entities.
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1980s
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Eugene Ellsworth
Landy was an American psychologist and psychotherapist best known for his
unconventional 24-hour therapy as well as ethical violations concerning his
treatment of Beach
Boys co-founder Brian Wilson in
the 1980s. In 2015, Landy's relationship with Wilson was dramatized in
the biographical
filmLove & Mercy.
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United States
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1987
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A school had been
infecting disabled children in experiments for years.
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Canada, United
States
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12 psychiatric
centers
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1994–2001
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SmithKlineBeecham,
known since 2000 as GlaxoSmithKline,
conducted a clinical trial from 1994 to 1997 in 12 pychiatric centers in
North America to study the efficacy of paroxetine(Paxil,
Seroxat), an anti-depressant, on teenagers. The trial data suggested that the
drug was not efficacious and that the paroxetine group were more likely to
think about suicide. The paper that wrote up the study was published in 2001,
osensibly authored by a group of academics, but actually ghostwritten by the
drug company. The article downplayed the negative findings and concluded that
paroxetine helped with teenage depression. The company used this paper to
promote paroxetine for teenagers. The ensuing controversy led to several
lawsuits, including from the parents of teenagers who killed themselves while
taking the drug, and intensified the debate about medical ghostwriting and conflict of interest in clinical trials. In
2012 the US Justice Department fined GlaxoSmithKline $3 billion for several
violations, including withholding data on paroxetine, unlawfully promoting it
for adolescents, and preparing a misleading article about study 329. New
Scientist wrote in 2015: "You may never have heard of it, but
Study 329 changed medicine."[27]
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Death associated
with psychotropic drugs
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United States
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1998
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In 1998,
60-year-old Donald Schell went to see his doctor
complaining of difficulty sleeping. He was diagnosed with an anxiety state
and placed on Paxil, an SSRI anti-depressant. Within 48 hours
of being put on Paxil Schell killed his wife, daughter, infant granddaughter,
and himself. Tim Tobin, Schell’s son-in-law, took legal action against
SmithKline (now GlaxoSmithKline).
The Tobin case was heard in Wyoming from
May 21 to June 6, 2001. The jury returned a guilty verdict against SmithKline
and awarded Tobin $6.4 million.[28][29][30][31]This was the first guilty verdict returned
against a pharmaceutical company
regarding adverse behavioral effects of a psychotropic drug.[28]
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United States
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2002
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Courtney is a
former pharmacist who
owned and operated Research Medical Tower Pharmacy in Missouri.[32] In 2002, he was convicted of
pharmaceutical fraud and sentenced to federal prison.[32]
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United States
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2003
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Patients donated
tissue samples, which researchers subsequently used in a plan to generate
profit.
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Various
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2004–2012
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In 2004 GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)
sponsored at least four medical trials using Hispanic and black children
at New
York's Incarnation Children's Center. Normally trials on
children require parental consent but, as the infants were in care, New
York's authorities held that role. Experiments were designed to test the
“safety and tolerance” of AIDS medications,
some of which have potentially dangerous side effects.[33]
In 2006, GSK and the US Army were criticized for Hepatitis E vaccine experiments
conducted in 2003 on 2,000 soldiers of the Royal Nepalese Army. It was said that using
soldiers as volunteers is unethical because they "could easily be
coerced into taking part."[34]
In January 2012, GSK and two scientists who led the trials
were fined approximately $240,000 in Argentina for "experimenting with
human beings" and "falsifying parental authorization" during
vaccine trials on 15,000 children under the age of one. Babies were recruited
from poor families that visited public hospitals for medical treatment.
Fourteen babies allegedly died as a result of the trials.[35]
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Death from
prescription drugs
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United States
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2006
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Rebecca Riley, the
daughter of Michael and Carolyn Riley of Massachusetts, was found dead in her
home at age four, her lungs filled with fluid, after prolonged exposure to
various medications. The medical examiner's office determined the girl died
from "intoxication due to the combined effects" of prescription
drugs. Police reports state she was taking 750 milligrams a day of Depakote, 200
milligrams a day of Seroquel,
and .35 milligrams a day of Clonidine. Rebecca had been taking the drugs
since the age of two for bipolar disorder and ADHD, diagnosed by child psychiatrist Kayoko
Kifuji of the Tufts-New England Medical Center.[36]
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United States
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Minnesota
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2004
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University of Minnesota research participant Dan Markingson committed
suicide in May 2004 while enrolled in an industry-sponsored pharmaceutical
trial comparing three FDA-approved atypical antipsychotics: Seroquel (quetiapine), Zyprexa (olanzapine),
and Risperdal
(risperidone). Writing on the circumstances surrounding
Markingson's death in the study, which was designed and funded by Seroquel
manufacturer AstraZeneca,
University of Minnesota Professor of Bioethics Carl Elliott noted that Markingson was
enrolled in the study against the wishes of his mother, Mary Weiss, and that
he was forced to choose between enrolling in the study or being involuntarily
committed to a state mental institution.[37] Further investigation revealed financial
ties to AstraZeneca by Markingson's psychiatrist, Dr. Stephen C. Olson,
oversights and biases in AstraZeneca's trial design, and the inadequacy of
university Institutional Review Board (IRB)protections for
research subjects.[38] Although a 2005 FDA investigation
appeared to clear the university, greater awareness of the case stemming from
Elliott's 2010 article in the magazine Mother Jones resulted in a group of
university faculty members sending a public letter to the Board of Regents
urging an external investigation into Markingson's death.[39]
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