Israeli Guinea Pigs

Salon.com describes the effort of a medical ethicist in Israel to uncover some incredible violations of human rights in medical research. The stories are amazing and have provoked a massive response from the Israeli government:

At one hospital, staff pierced children's eardrums to apply an experimental medication yet to be approved in any country. At another, patients with senile dementia had their thumbprints applied to consent forms for experimental drugs.

... [State comptroller Eliezer] Goldberg said two women died from infections, but their deaths were not reported to the ministry, nor was a legally required investigation committee set up. The comptroller said that in some cases the deaths of patients who were part of clinical trials were not immediately reported, which undermined attempts to establish whether the experiments were to blame.

Michel believes some doctors bowed to incentives from pharmaceutical firms to test experimental drugs. "I don't have to explain the enormous power of the pharmaceutical industry to direct research according to its priorities," he said.

Goldberg described how one researcher was also the medical director of a company that initiated the clinical trial he was responsible for.

[thanks Sean Philpott]