Many of the scandals that surround modern medicine involve research conducted on human subjects. Consequently when discussion turns to the ethics of research, such atrocities as the Nazi hypothermia experiments at Dachau conentration camp during World War Two (Berger 1990) or the Tuskegee Syphilis Study in Alabama beginning in the 1930s (Pence 2000) are never far from the surface...The reaction to these atrocities has, justifiably, been extreme. In this paper, Sheehan considers the consequences of these reactions - the exclusion of particular groups from participation in research.

21st June 2011 • comment