For the Good of Mankind?: The Shameful History of Human Medical Experimentation

It's the start of a new year and I decided to post a review of a non-fiction YA book I just finished reading - I don't see a whole lot of them, so this is unique!

By Vicki O. Wittenstein

ISBN: 9781467706599
Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group
Publication Date: August 1st 2013
Number of Pages: 96
Source: Local Library
Goodreads Summary: Experiment: A child is deliberately infected with the deadly smallpox disease without his parents' informed consent. 
Result: The world's first vaccine. 
Experiment: A slave woman is forced to undergo more than thirty operations without anesthesia. 
Result: The beginnings of modern gynecology. 
Experiment: From 1946 to 1953, seventy-four boys are fed oatmeal laced with radioactive iron and calcium. 
Result: A better understanding of the effects of radioactivity on the human body. 

Experimental incidents such as these paved the way for crucial medical discoveries and lifesaving cures and procedures. But they also violated the rights of their subjects, many of whom did not give their consent to the experiments. The subjects suffered excruciating pain and humiliation. Some even died as a result of the procedures. Even in the twenty-first century—despite laws, regulations, and ethical conventions—the tension between medical experimentation and patient rights continues. 

How do doctors balance the need to test new medicines and procedures with their ethical and moral duty to protect the rights of human subjects? What price has been paid for medical knowledge? Can we learn from the broken oaths of the past? 

Take a harrowing journey through some of history's greatest medical advances—and its most horrifying medical atrocities. You'll read about orphans injected with lethal tuberculosis and concentration camp inmates tortured by Nazi doctors. You’ll also learn about radiation experimentation and present-day clinical trials that prove fatal. Through these stories, explore the human suffering that has gone hand in hand with medical advancement.

My Rating:  

Fascinating read! For lovers of history and cover-ups, this is a book written in easy-to-understand terms but keeps the reader engaged. Some of the experiments described are graphic, so a word of caution.

The author talks about some cases of human experimentation that most are familiar with - like the Nazis during WWII, but she also brings up cases even I haven't heard of (and some performed here in the US!). For example, a program called Green Run is described. From 1944 into the 1960's, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) approved the "secret intentional releases of radioactive materials into the air" (45). Officials would then go around to area schools and test the children for radiation. This is just one instance of experimentation conducted in secret and without contest.

While raising questions of how the ends justify the means, the anecdotes given really open the reader's eyes. There are resources included in the back of the book: a breakdown by chapter with critical thinking questions, source notes, selected bibliography, and a section on more resources.

I appreciated that the rise of pharmaceutical companies and medicine-for-profit is discussed. How can these companies have the public's best interests at heart when their main goal is to make money?  Informed consent is now required but there are blurred lines when it comes to interpreting exactly how much information needs to be given in order for it to be considered "informed."

"Scientific and medical discoveries of the twenty-first century offer the promise of a future without serious medical conditions. Society must continue to experiment on humans to find new treatments and cures. In balancing the rights of the individual versus the advancement of science and medicine, how will you decide between what is right and wrong?" - For the Good of Mankind?: The Shameful History of Human Medical Experimentation, 7