When you hear the word "scandal," what immediately comes to mind? Lindsay Lohan? Christine O'Donnell? Probably not Guatemalan mental institutions circa 1946. However, the latter is a hot topic of discussion this week, as it was the setting of a highly unethical study involving the recruitment of prostitutes in Guatemala to spread venereal diseases to uninfected men.
The study, which also involved the use of inoculations to directly infect mental patients in a Guatemalan asylum, surfaced when Susan Reverby, a medical historian at Wellesley College, serendipitously stumbled upon its files. Though it was conducted 64 years ago, the study's effects still appear strikingly egregious: roughly 30% of the subjects exposed to gonorrhea, 61% of those exposed to syphilis, and 97% of those exposed to chancroid were subsequently infected. These are diseases associated with not only physical, but permanently psychological symptoms as well.
On a more positive note, historical scandals such as this can be used as prime examples of what not to do for all those in the medical research community--a true testament to the long-standing mantra of "Learn from your mistakes." And though they may not be as current as those hailed by U.S. Weekly, I would argue that these "scandals" merit exponentially more importance than, say, what Kate Gosselin ate for lunch last Wednesday.
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