BOOK TALK (NON-FICTION): FOR THE GOOD OF MANKIND

The first few pages of this book is enough to bring anyone to tears. It could easily sink the toughest guy on the wrestling team. The book opens up with the dismay and recollection of a nurse telling of orphans who lie in their cribs holding their eyes and wailing because they’ve been injected in the eyes with a tubelin substance that causes their eyelids to bulge and run with pus. The substance runs down their cheek so frequently that it creates “deep grooves.” The 160 babies who were once healthy suffered permanent eye injuries. They were available and defenseless. This descriptive account is enough to make any one close the book on this these stories. No pun intended. But those who get past it are met with one account after another of experiments conducted on slaves, mentally retarded, children, soldiers, terminally-ill seeking hope. Because at first the stories are set in the early part of the 20th century, a reader might sigh with relief that this doesn’t happen anymore. But as the pages are turned one realizes that the medical experiments where challenged by the Secretary of Energy in the Clinton Administration. The author also shows how frequently the United States government has been a part of these medical atrocities. This book enumerates one medical horror after another. It gives a glimpse of how unchecked and cruel some doctors have been through the decades.

As you read it, you are apprised and made clear of the deceit that usually wraps around medical scientific experiments. For instance, a little boy was flown from Australia to San Francisco with the help of the US Army during World War II for cancer treatments. The Samaritan deed received a good amount of media attention. “”Simeon [Shaw] who was instead injected with radioactive plutonium. His doctors did not seek informed consent from the family.” So the book covers the debate of consent as many victims were unaware that they were part of experiments.

The great thing about this difficult book is even though it is a book of few pages it covers a lot of cases, facets and malpractices., you could read it in a day. It moves you, the readers through slippery slope of doctors shifting from practicing medicine to conducting scientific experiments. It provides you with necessary medical history and language so you can understand the subtle difference. It covers the Hippocratic Oath and who Hippocrates was. Students are introduced to the concept of “First do not harm.” The opposition such as the Antivivisection Movement and critics are also covered. So the book covers the debate of consent.

I couldn’t help but notice how well designed the pages are. I certainly think because the subject matter is so challenging that the publisher provides mental relief with primary source, but “light” pictures and color to take the edge off. I was a little apprehensive as I read each account. In fact, I cringed reading some of the stories. But really gruesome details were not altogether left out but somehow softened.

I recommend this book for exposing what we need to continue to be vigilant and diligent about making the health care profession what a world-leading country needs for all of it’s citizens. As you move into adulthood, that will be your charge.