Against Their Will: The Secret History of Medical Experimentation on Children in America

The shocking truth of what really happened in American medicine during the 20th centuryInfluenced by the eugenics movement and under the allure of grand scientific breakthroughs, doctors and researchers tested out new medicines and medical procedures on some of America’s most vulnerable populations: institutionalized children.Researchers in need of test subjects looked to state institutions that contained developmentally impaired children for their experiments. Fernald, Willowbrook, Pennhurst, Vineland, Sonoma State, the Ohio Sailors and Soldiers Orphan Home, and dozens of other overcrowded and understaffed institutions across the country provided a “fertile field” for medical investigators in the hunt for a new elixir to treat or prevent any number of diseases plaguing contemporary society.Defenseless children—commonly referred to at the time as “feebleminded”—warehoused in state-run facilities were often “volunteered” as human guinea pigs for countless dangerous experiments that included: radioactive material, electric shock, LSD, and myriad vaccines. Even day-old infants were incorporated in the studies.Though the truth can be difficult to read, it is imperative for citizens to understand what really went on in the dark side of American medical history. Read more