4 gruesome medical experiments from US history
Key Takeaways
From the annals of medical history, there are many experimental treatments that are thought of as gruesome today. From the use of leeches in ancient times to 20th-century lobotomies, some medical treatments are still discussed and contrasted against those of modern times.
In ancient Greece, for example, some anatomy studies were reportedly conducted by performing surgeries on prisoners without anesthetic.[] The horrifying World War II–era Nazi experiments conducted in concentration camps are another notorious example.[] In the US, unethical medical experiments have disproportionately affected specific populations, namely Black and institutionalized communities.
Here are four of the most chilling examples of gruesome medical experiments that plague US history.
The Tuskegee Syphilis Study
You’ve surely heard of this one before: The Tuskegee Syphilis Study—a textbook example of when doctors ignore morality and ethics. Beginning in 1932, researchers in Tuskegee, AL, deceptively gave placebos to 600 Black male patients—399 of whom had syphilis—and told them they were receiving treatment for “bad blood,” a term of the time used to describe syphilis, fatigue, and other ailments.[] The purpose was to allow researchers to study the natural course of untreated syphilis, to help determine if no treatment was better than what was currently available. (Mercury, the primary treatment at the time, was linked to side effects such as tooth loss, kidney failure, and death.[])
Advertisements for the study claimed that participants would receive free medical care and meals, transportation, and assistance with burial costs. Participants were not informed of their diagnosis. Although the study was only supposed to last for 6 months, it continued for 40 years.[] When penicillin became the standard treatment for syphilis in the late 1940s, it was not provided to participants in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study.
By 1969, at least 28, and possibly up to 100, of the study’s original 399 participants with syphilis died of syphilis-related complications.
J. Marion Sims’ experiments on enslaved women
The 19th-century OB/GYN J. Marion Sims, credited with perfecting a treatment for vaginal fistulas, was once considered “the father of gynecology.”[] He is also linked to gruesome medical experiments.
Between 1845 and 1849, Dr. Sims gained surgical knowledge by experimenting on enslaved women who could not withhold consent or refuse treatment.[] Dr. Sims experimented on the women for years, subjecting some to repeated surgeries, and did not use anesthesia during these procedures. One patient was allegedly experimented on more than 30 times.
The Willowbrook Hepatitis Experiments
For 15 years, students at the Willowbrook State School, a home for mentally disabled children, were intentionally infected with hepatitis under the care of Dr. Saul Krugman.[] Dr. Krugman, who wanted to track the development of the viral infection, observed symptoms in hundreds of children.[]
The variance in symptoms noted in the study led to the realization that there was more than one type of hepatitis and the eventual classification of hepatitis A and hepatitis B.
Many parents consented to their children participating in the experiment in exchange for their acceptance to Willowbrook. Extensive criticisms have been raised, of course, about the ethics of performing this experiment on children.[]
The Cincinnati Radiation Experiments
Radiologist Dr. Eugene Saenger exposed over 90 cancer patients to heavy doses of radiation between 1960 and 1971.[] The patients were told that they were receiving an experimental cancer cure.
In truth, the Department of Defense–funded study aimed to discover how soldiers exposed to nuclear warfare might react to long-term, large doses of radiation. Most of the patients were poor and Black.[] During the experiment, most participants were exposed to approximately 1 hour of radiation. All patients experienced severe side effects, including confusion, vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. As many as 25% of the study’s participants died from the radiation.
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