Why was the Willowbrook study unethical?

One of the ethical problems with the Willowbrook Hepatitis Study is that it did not protect the participants from harm. New patients, who were healthy, were subjected to the infectious disease. Furthermore, researchers stated that the children would more than likely become infected during their time at Willowbrook.

Keeping this in view, what ethical principles were violated in the Willowbrook study?

The issues include : the vulnerability of the test subjects, interference with informed consent and the non-therapeutic nature of their experiment for their subjects. It is morally wrong to perform an experiment on either a normal or a mentally retarded child when no benefit can result for that child.

Subsequently, question is, what was the purpose of the Willowbrook hepatitis study? Case: Willowbrook Experiments. Mentally retarded children housed at the Willowbrook State School in Staten Island, New York, were intentionally given hepatitis in an attempt to track the development of the viral infection. The study began in 1956 and lasted for 14 years.

Moreover, was the Willowbrook study conducted ethically?

The Willowbrook Ethical Debate Mentally disabled children can't advocate for themselves or fully understand the risks involved in such a study. The adults at Willowbrook weren't used in the experiment. Adults can consent and many of the adults at Willowbrook had contracted hepatitis.

How did researchers justify the Willowbrook hepatitis study?

Researchers chose Willowbrook for the study because there was such a high level of hepatitis there, not because the children were mentally disabled. When the school became too crowded, school officials told parents there was only space in the separate hepatitis research building.

18 Related Question Answers Found

What did Saul Krugman discover?

Saul Krugman

In 1960, he showed that children could be protected against measles by using live attenuated virus vaccine. In 1969, he confirmed the effectiveness of the first vaccine against rubella.

What is the Willowbrook hepatitis study?

Case: Willowbrook Experiments. Mentally retarded children housed at the Willowbrook State School in Staten Island, New York, were intentionally given hepatitis in an attempt to track the development of the viral infection. The study began in 1956 and lasted for 14 years.

What year did Willowbrook close?

In 1983, the state of New York announced plans to close Willowbrook, which had been renamed the Staten Island Developmental Center in 1974. By the end of March 1986, the number of residents housed there had dwindled to 250, and the last children left the grounds on September 17, 1987.

At what point in the Tuskegee study did the research become unethical?

A. The study became unethical in the 1940s when penicillin became the recommended drug for treatment of syphilis and researchers did not offer it to the subjects. Q. How did revelations about the study change the way we conduct Public Health Research today?

What was the purpose of the Tuskegee study?

The purpose of this study was to observe the natural history of untreated syphilis; the African American men in the study were only told they were receiving free health care from the Federal government of the United States.

What is the Nuremberg Code and why was it established?

The Nuremberg Code was introduced in August 1947, after the Nuremberg trials. In these trials, Nazi doctors were convicted of the crimes committed during human experiments on concentration camp prisoners. It attempted to give clear rules about what was legal and what was not when conducting human experiments.

Is Willowbrook a city?

Location of Willowbrook in Los Angeles County, California. Willowbrook, alternatively named Willow Brook, is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Los Angeles County, California. The population was 35,983 at the 2010 census, up from 34,138 at the 2000 census.

What are the horrors of Willowbrook?

The horrors of Willowbrook State School

Overcrowding. When individuals began moving into Willowbrook in 1947, the school had a maximum capacity of 4,000 residents.
More room in prison.
Patients left to roam.
'It smelled of death'
National and local attention.
Parents file class-action lawsuit.
Lawsuit sought humane treatment.
Willowbrook review panel.

When was Willowbrook opened?

Opened in October of 1947 under the name Willowbrook State School, it started with just 20 patients but by 1955 it had reached its capacity of 4,000, and by 1969 there were over 6,000 residents.

Is Willowbrook hospital still standing?

In 1983, New York announced that it planned to close Willowbrook, although by this time it was called the Staten Island Developmental Center. By 1986, only 250 residents still lived there; by September 1987, the last patients left the facility.

Who was responsible for broadcasting the horrific conditions at Willowbrook?

Willowbrook the last disgrace - twenty-five years later. Nationally broadcasted expose on WABC in 1972 by Geraldo Rivera that was edited into a documentary demonstrating the conditions at the Willowbrook State School before and after political intervention.

What happened Willowbrook?

Sexual and physical abuse at the hands of fellow patients and employees was common, as was disease. By 1969, Willowbrook, designed with a capacity for 4,000 patients, reached its peak of 6,200. Scenes from inside Willowbrook were shocking, and the local news story on WABC-TV was watched by millions.

When did Geraldo Rivera expose Willowbrook?

1972

Why was the Belmont Report created?

The Commission, created as a result of the National Research Act of 1974, was charged with identifying the basic ethical principles that should underlie the conduct of biomedical and behavioral research involving human subjects and developing guidelines to assure that such research is conducted in accordance with those