In the first chapter of Bioethics: The Basics, Campbell mentions how after World War II it became increasingly clear that physicians were not these superior moral beings. Some could commit heinous acts. Though I've studied the Holocaust and World War II a few times during my education, I've never heard of the experiments ran by Japanese scientists on the Chinese. Campbell only mentioned it briefly, but I wanted to learn more. The experiments were carried out by Unit 731.
"Among the thousands of experiments conducted on prisoners: vivisections without anesthesia; injections of venereal diseases to examine their spread; amputations to study blood loss; removal of other body parts and organs; starvation; and deliberate exposure to freezing temperatures to examine the effects of frostbite (Donovan, 2021)."
Here is a good article if you're interested in learning more: https://history.howstuffworks.com/world-war-ii/unit-731.htm
This not only shows the importance of bioethics but also brings into question accountability. Shouldn't the U.S. have ensured that those responsible were brought to justice? At the very least, they could've not actively helped cover it up. What do you think about the U.S. using the data that was collected in these experiments?
I also hadn't heard about the Japanese experiments before Campbell mentioned them. I was appalled by the US's exploitation of these crimes against fellow humans, but some part of me wasn't surprised. I think being exposed to a lot of US-forward rhetoric while learning about WWII has distorted my expectations for our country; I thought the US had some moral high ground (if there is any in war), but obviously I was naïve to think so. I enjoyed the article you linked, I think it provided the gruesome details necessary to convey the severity of bioethical issues in the WWII era.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know about the experiments carried out by Unit 731 before the author mentioned it in this text either. I find it horrifying that the U.S. covered up these gruesome, unethical experiments because they "made a deal" that let them see the results. When reading this chapter, it was clear that many unethical experiments, specifically ones that did not involve fully informed and voluntary consent, were supported or even funded by the United States government. These studies usually only stopped after being exposed and met with heavy public disapproval. It seems like, throughout history, many privileged people and people in positions of power take advantage of the underprivileged for their own benefit. On a related topic, the book Medical Apartheid by Harriet A. Washington is a good read on the subject of unethical experimentation.
ReplyDeleteThe flip-side of hope: our species' (and nations') continuing capacity for cruelty.
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