Reference no: EM133936176

Assignment:

In 1944, the medical team of the Manhattan Project agreed to conduct secret radiation-exposure experiments at four U.S. hospitals in an effort to develop safety guidelines for Manhattan Project workers.

Between 1945 and 1947, 18 patients in these hospitals who were diagnosed (and in some cases, misdiagnosed) with terminal illnesses and expected to live no longer than 10 years were injected with plutonium. Of these, just one is known to have signed a consent form (Atomic Heritage Foundation, 2017). Seven patients lived longer than 10 years, and five lived more than 20 years. The remaining survivors were not notified that they had been injected with plutonium until 1974 (Subcommittee on Energy Conservation and Power, Committee on Energy and Commerce, U.S. House of Representatives, 1986).

Consider the following questions:

• Whose interests were served by the decision not to tell the participants they had been injected with plutonium?
• Should the participants have been informed of their radiation exposure even though they might have been alarmed by this disclosure (thus possibly compromising quality of life)?
• Is research on people without their informed consent ever permissible, even in the interests of national security or in times of war?
• Should the U.S. government that sponsored the experiments be expected to make financial reparations to the survivors or their next of kin?