Acres of Skin: Human Experiments at Holmesburg Prison - Softcover

Hornblum, Allen M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0415923360 ISBN 13: 9780415923361

Publisher: Routledge, 1999

Synopsis

For more than two decades, from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s, inmates of Holmesburg Prison, Philadelphia, were used, in exchange for a few dollars, as guinea pigs in a host of medical experiments. Based on interviews with dozens of prisoners as well as doctors and prison officials who performed and enforced these experimental tests, this book paints a portrait of abuse, moral indifference and greed. Central to the account are the millions of dollars which many of America's leading drug and consumer-goods companies made available for doctors seeking fame and fortune through their medical experiments. Many of those doctors established their careers on the backs of the inmates who served as ideal test subjects - isolated, cheap, and locked behind bars. The author argues that at Holmesburg the American medical establishment betrayed the ideals of the Hippocratic Oath and the Nuremberg Code. An array of doctors, in conjunction with the University of Pennsylvania and prison officials, established Holmesburg as a laboratory testing ground. Hundreds of prisoners were used to test products from facial creams and skin moisturizers to perfumes, detergents and anti-rash treatments. Other experiments used the inmates as test subjects for far more hazardous, even potentially lethal, substances such as radioactive isotopes, LSD and chemical-warfare agents.

About this title

Review:

"This admirably comprehensive story of the use of prisoners for medical research is embarrassingly painful to read... This encyclopedic, well-documented treatise....is a fascinating story
."
-"Journal of the American Medical Association
"Hornblum's book is awesome, revealing the sanctimonious venality of American medicine....Excellent! Highly recommended
."
-"Choice
"Admirably comprehensive story of the use of prisoners for medical research...Acres of Skin" is the result of exhaustive scholarship...a comprehensive anthology of the use of prisoners for medical experimentation in other U.S. prisons and universities...This encylopedic, "well-documented treatise is a fascinating story...Hornblum has recalled for all of us a history of abominable medical research and has given us all the opportunity to reflect on where we were when they experimented on prisoners and where we will be in the next ethical dilemma in medical"science
."
-"Journal of the American Medical Association
"A recently released expose has sparked new interest in this controversial chapter of American medical history
."
-"Village Voice
"A startling new book
."
-"Philadelphia Tribune

From the Back Cover:

In this expose, Allen M. Hornblum tells the story of Philadelphia's Holmesburg Prison. From the early 1950s through the mid-1970s, Holmesburg's inmates were used, in exchange for a few dollars, as guinea pigs in a host of medical experiments. Based on in-depth interviews with dozens of prisoners as well as the doctors and prison officials who, respectively, performed and permitted these experimental tests, Hornblum paints a disturbing portrait of abuse, moral indifference, and greed. Central to this account are the millions of dollars many of America's leading drug and consumer goods companies made available for the eager doctors seeking fame and fortune through their medical experiments. Many of these doctors established their illustrious careers on the backs of the inmates who served as the ideal test subjects - isolated, cheap, and locked behind bars.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0415923360
• ISBN 13: 9780415923361
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 334