Ethical theories and their applications

Ethics and Experimentation

Ethics and Medical Experimentation

On Staten Island there was an institution for the mentally disabled which operated from 1947 to 1987, but in the period from 1956 through 1971, children at the institution were used for experiments involving hepatitis. Although the experiments are considered to be successful, the involvement of mentally disabled children has brought many ethical considerations to the forefront. Dr. Saul Krugman, the man who ran the experiment, stated that his team took a number of ethical considerations into question before the experiment began. Firstly, Krugman rationalized the use of children by stating that "It is recognized that infectious hepatitis is a much milder disease in children." (Robinson 81) Then, a mild form of the disease was inflicted upon the children under conditions that were the most favorable including special medical personnel and isolation quarters. Krugman specifically stated that only children who's parents consented were used in the experiment and that the level of pathogen used would start small and be increased gradually, but only if there were no serious adverse effects. In short, the scientists involved rationalized their behavior because the experiment "began with a low dose to observe side effects, created a specialized system for monitoring the children, and used an agent known to produce a mild form of the disease." (Robinson 82)

2. Even though the scientists performed the experiment with what they considered to be the strictest ethical considerations, there were still some highly questionable acts performed. Firstly, it was the 1950's and there were not the kinds of programs available for mentally disabled children and their families, so most parents were unable to cope with the situation. Therefore, the parents of these children were desperate for some place to put their children and Willowbrook was one of the few places for them; thus the available spaces were few. Parents would do just about anything to get their children into the school, even allow them to be experimented on. Secondly, the parents were not given the specifics of the experiment, nor told how dangerous it could be. They gave their consent, but it was not informed consent. But he most ethically questionable aspect of the experiment is that they used children who were considered to be expendable. At best, hepatitis is still an highly infectious disease and even though mild forms were used, there was still the chance of some of the children dying. The fact that mentally disabled children were used is an indication that the scientists felt that somehow these children were "disposable," and if they died, then the loss to society would be less severe. If the scientists felt so confident that the children were safe, why then did they not use "ordinary" children like their own?