Jane Doe H-Block

10/9/18 Ms. Hunter

Case Study: Dr. Chester Southam's Cancer Experiments

Dr. Chester Southam wanted to study how healthy patients and sick patients would

respond to being injected with human cancer cells. His goal was to see if healthy immune

systems would react differently to the foreign cancer cells as opposed to immune systems that

were compromised by disease. The way that Dr. Southam went about reaching his goals was to

inject cancerous cells under the skin of cancer patients at Brooklyn Jewish Chronic Disease

Hospital (JCDH). The pros of the experiment were (at least in the mind of Dr. Southam) that

doctors and researchers would understand if cancer cells would be rejected even by people who

had weakened immune systems. The cons are that unsuspecting people would be injected with

cancer and this could potentially put them at risk or perhaps even make them sicker.

The ethical issues in this experiment are numerous. Firstly, the subjects of the experiment

were elderly cancer patients who were experiencing senility, and therefore they are part of a

population that is already at risk of being exploited. The patients at JCDH had a reasonable

expectation that they would be cared for by their doctors and not used in experimental research.

Dr. Southam and his researchers should have been responsible for providing medically-sound

and beneficial care for the patients. Dr. Southam's experiments violate several of the Nuremberg

Codes. Code #1 was broken because Dr. Southam did not have the full consent of the patients;

they were completely unaware that they were being injected with cancerous cells. Code #4 was

also broken, as there was a chance of physical harm coming to the patients from being injected

with cancer cells. Lastly, Code #3 was broken as the experiment did not come from previous
knowledge. Dr. Southam could just as easily have performed his experiment on animals or relied

on previous research before conducting a human trial.

Based on all of the information, the committee recommends that Dr. Southam have his

medical license revoked. Dr. Southam does not seem to display any regret for his actions and in

fact believes that his research is "sound and scientifically important." Due to his poor attitude

and the fact that he does not seem to notice or care about the ethical boundaries he crossed, Dr.

Southam is at risk of harming other patients in the future. The committee also recommends

financial compensation for the subjects who were involved in the experiment. While no patient

contracted cancer, they still deserve to be compensated for their suffering and the unethical

behavior of the doctors and hospitals that were supposed to be caring for them. Patients should

receive $50,000 in recompense. If the patient is deceased, then their closest relative should

receive the payment.

Letter from Subject

To: Dr. Southam and the Board of Ethics

To Whom It May Concern,

My name is Estelle Ben-David and my mother was one of the patients who was involved

in Dr. Southam's cancer "research" at JCDH. Unfortunately, my mother has since passed away

from ovarian cancer and I am writing on her behalf to outline the suffering she experienced while

under the care of Dr. Southam and his associates. Due to Dr. Southam's despicable behavior, my

mother had to go to her grave knowing that she had been exploited.

While my mother (Astrid Ben-David) was at JCDH, she was under the impression that

she was being cared for and treated for her ovarian cancer. However, instead she was cruelly and

unknowingly exposed to cancer cells. Dr. Southam told my mother that she was getting a

"human growth cell" treatment that would be beneficial for her, but in reality he was injecting

cancer cells into her arm. She later developed tumors from these cells and had to have them

surgically removed from her skin. Bear in mind that this happened to a person who was already

suffering from ovarian cancer! She expected medically-sound and thoughtful treatment, but was

instead harmed by your doctors.

My mother was horrified when she found out that she had been exposed to foreign cancer

cells and spent her last days in distress about her treatment. Our family is Jewish and we thought

that being at a Jewish hospital would guarantee that we would not be discriminated against,

especially considering the legacy of experimentation in the holocaust. My family has suffered

horribly and we demand some kind of compensation from the hospital for the atrocities you have

committed.

- Estelle Ben-David