title: First, do no harm: the US sexually transmitted disease experiments in Guatemala.
abstract: Beginning in 1946, the United States government immorally and unethically-and, arguably, illegally-engaged in research experiments in which more than 5000 uninformed and unconsenting Guatemalan people were intentionally infected with bacteria that cause sexually transmitted diseases. Many have been left untreated to the present day. Although US President Barack Obama apologized in 2010, and although the US Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues found the Guatemalan experiments morally wrong, little if anything has been done to compensate the victims and their families. We explore the backdrop for this unethical medical research and violation of human rights and call for steps the United States should take to provide relief and compensation to Guatemala and its people.
authors.affiliation: Michael A. Rodriguez is with the Blum Center on Poverty and Health in Latin America and the Department of Family Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles. Robert García is with The City Project, Los Angeles.
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Rodriguez
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: García
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006166:Guatemala; D045809:Human Rights Abuses / Q000941:ethics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D033281:Nontherapeutic Human Experimentation / Q000941:ethics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D061214:Patient Safety; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000635:transmission*; D014481:United States