In the Wake of Guatemala: The Case for Voluntary Compensation and Remediation

Abstract

In 2010, evidence was publicly unearthed that U.S. Public Health Service researchers had engaged in non-consensual inoculation of vulnerable Guatemalan populations with syphilis, gonorrhea, and chancroid between 1946 and 1948. While President Obama publicly apologized to the Guatemalan people and charged the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues with overseeing a fact-finding investigation into the Guatemalan study and a review of current standards for the protection of international scientific study participants, we argue that this response was inadequate. Instead, we call on the federal government to create a voluntary restitution program for the participants and their families to compensate them, acknowledge the seriousness of the wrongful conduct at issue, and deter future abuses of research ethics. Reviewing two case studies of past government compensation programs established in the wake of ethical violations, we recommend guiding principles for creating such a program.

Keywords: Guatemala, syphilis, gonorrhea, chancroid, human subjects research, bioethics, consent, victim's compensation