"Ethically Impossible"

Book excerpt: In response to a request by President Barak Obama on November 24, 2010, the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues oversaw a thorough fact-finding investigation into the specifics of the U.S. Public Health Service-led studies in Guatemala involving the intentional exposure and infection of vulnerable populations. Following a nine-month intensive investigation, the Commission has concluded that the Guatemala experiments involved gross violations of ethics as judged against both the standards of today and the researchers' own understanding of applicable contemporaneous practices. It is the Commission's firm belief that many of the actions undertaken in Guatemala were especially egregious moral wrongs because many of the individuals involved held positions of public institutional responsibility. The best thing we can do as a country when faced with a dark chapter is to bring it to light. The Commission has worked hard to provide an unvarnished ethical analysis to both honor the victims and make sure events such as these never happen again.