Preview

WWII Human Experiments: The Angel Of Death

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1626 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
WWII Human Experiments: The Angel Of Death
Research Paper

My sentence at Auschwitz began in March 1944. Everyday I was submerged into boiling water which made my flesh burn and made me want to scream in agony but I could not. Weakness in front of Him would be a death sentence. When I was forced under the boiling water, I wasn't given the luxury of air. Every time I came up for air a stick was there to push me back down. This occurred for 10 minutes. 600 seconds of anguish for his 600 seconds of pleasure watching me try and escape as though he was watching his prey take their final breath. If you looked at Him all you would see were his pitch-black eyes, a straight stance and a deep, wide grin feeding on your pain. The Angel of Death would without hesitation remove me from the boiling
…show more content…
Critics also claim the researchers could use the information to properly conduct the experiments loosely based on the human experiments. To make sure there was the least amount of outrage associated with the usage of these experiments, you clearly would need to cite the patients and explain the atrocities they have suffered. According to them, this recognition of them being humans and their suffering would be enough of an acknowledgment. (Cohen)

Although there is some compelling evidence for the utilization of these human experiments, the reasons this research should be discarded has more merit. Japanese WWII Human Experimentation clinics, such as Unit 731, should not be used nor help influence scientific research in the modern day. Human experiments that took place at Unit 731 were as follows; vivisection, germ warfare attacks, frostbite testing and transmission of syphilis. The transmission of syphilis was orchestrated by the doctors forcing sexual acts between infected and uninfected prisoners to transmit the disease. If you resisted, you would be shot. After victims were
…show more content…
The Nazis research conducted can not be used because it is not science, it is motivated through racial hatred and took place with cruel and eerie intentions. Both the Japanese and Nazis experiments took place with less qualified doctors and poor experimental design in addition the Nazis documents were never published (What). Though some will claim that the tainted nature of the data stems from the circumstances surrounding their collection, there is undoubtedly sufficient evidence to argue that both the science employed by the Nazis and the qualifications of the “doctors” were questionable at best. Ethical guidelines for human research help to protect subjects, but also ensure that accurate and translatable results can be collected from the experiments. Jonathan Steinberg quite intelligently wrote, “Ethicality is thus intrinsically tied to scientific validity, and likewise unethical research leads to “bad science,”” which includes a subject pool and experimental design that can't be replicated, skewed background science, and inconsistencies in reported results. Aside from the unethical nature of the protocols, the conditions of the subjects can in no way be replicated, and it is likely that results obtained from these subjects would be significantly different from data collected from healthy subjects. Additionally, the “science” purported by the Nazis

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Over the years there have been many breakthroughs in medical science. These findings have help use grow through history fighting new diseases to help the people of the world. But some studies were done out of pure hatred and misunderstanding. Some researchers abused power and ruined the lives of their participants.…

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Survival in Auschwitz written by Primo Levi is a first-hand description of the atrocities which took place in the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz. The book provides an explicit depiction of camp life: the squalor, the insufficient food supply, the seemingly endless labour, cramped living space, and the barter-based economy which the prisoners lived. Levi through use of his simple yet powerful words outlined the motive behind Auschwitz, the tactical dehumanization and extermination of Jews. This paper will discuss experiences and reactions of Jews who labored in Auschwitz, and elaborate on the pre-Auschwitz experiences of Jews who were deported to Auschwitz and gassed to death on their arrival, which had not been included in Survival in Auschwitz.…

    • 859 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This is because a human life is valued more than any other subject used in clinical trials. In order to ensure the efficacy and legitimacy of treatment, human subjects are the most accurate compared to animals. Human subjects cultivate concrete information and data necessary for the improvement of medicine and health care as a whole. Baillie, McGeehan, T.M. Garrett, and R.M. Garrett (2013) stated, “…human experimentation is necessary for medical progress. Animal testing is useful, but it cannot provide the final word on either safety or efficacy” (p. 300). On the contrary, this does not excuse the researcher from disregarding a clinical participant’s life and safety. According to Baillie et al. (2013), humans are not objects that are used however the researcher desires (p. 293). Human experimentation, conversely, has a long history of abuse. Many rules and guidelines have been set in place to prevent researchers from taking advantage of human subjects all in the name of “science”. Due to these unfortunate events, Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) have been established to protect and oversee the organization and conduction of human experimentation (Baillie et al., 2013). One historical event that led to the development of stringent biomedical experimentation rules and guidelines was the Tuskegee syphilis research experiment (Head, 2012). This experiment was widely acknowledged and is known as…

    • 1010 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Any research like the Tuskegee Syphilis Research Study could not be conducted today. There are many reasons as to why this type of research study cannot be conducted today. One reason is because people of all races are more aware of diseases that today’s society has now than they were back then. Also, people now day’s want to be treated for the disease(s) that they have whether than be experimented with. People in today’s society are also more aware of the researches that are taking place to not allow this type of study to be conducted.…

    • 840 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the past, scientists have done very unwise and unimaginable experiments with humans as the test subject. Like in 1932, the public health service was working to find treatment for syphilis in the african american race.They had 600 black men, 399 with syphilis and 201 that did not have the disease. Without the patient's knowing that they were contracted with syphilis, scientists told the men that they were being treated for “bad blood”. But really they were not given the right treatment to cure their illness. Also in exchange the men received free medical exams, free meals, and burial insurance, which is like life insurance. But in 1968 this research raised concern for peter buxton and others, so they wrote a news article about what these…

    • 617 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Mkultra

    • 1256 Words
    • 6 Pages

    When looking at human experimentation during the twentieth century the nations that come to mind are Japan, where scientists amputated limbs from subjects only to reattach them to other parts of their bodies; Russia, where the Soviets tested odorless poisons on prisoners with the goal being not having it detected postmortem; or most infamously Nazi Germany and the heinous experimentation performed on the Jews. What most don’t realize however is the United States has its own history of unethical “studies”, “vaccines”, and “projects”. One such was the MKULTRA project, which has become notoriously known for carrying out some of the most unusual and sometimes inhumane experimentation financed by the American government.…

    • 1256 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Tuskegee Experiment

    • 2455 Words
    • 10 Pages

    In 1932, in the area surrounding Tuskegee, Macon County, Alabama, the United States Public Health Service (PHS) and the Rosenwald Foundation began a survey and small treatment program for African-Americans with syphilis. Within a few months, the deepening depression, the lack of funds from the foundation, and the large number of untreated cases provied the government’s reseachers with what seemed to be an unprecedented opportunity to study a seemingly almost “natural” experimentation of lantent syphilis in African-American men. What had begun as a “treatment” program thus was converted by the PHS reasearchers, under the imprimatur of the Surgeon General and with knowledge and consent of the Prewsident of Tuskegee Institute, the medical director of the Institute’s John A. Andrew Hospital, and the Macon County public health officials, into a persecpective study-The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male (Jones1-15). Moreover, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, which began in 1932 and was terminated in 1972 by the protest of an enraged public, constituted the longest nontherapeutic experiment on human beings in medical history. Since the premise on which the experiment was based did not involve finding a cure or providing treatment, the question then remains why did the study begin and why was it continued for four decades?…

    • 2455 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tuskegee experiment 1923, 600 non-prisoners were taken into an experiment with false information. They believed they had ‘bad blood’ which is a word that meant for many illnesses. Out of the 600, 399 were infected with syphilis and 324 of these infected died from being malnourished and not being treated properly. The original experiment was meant to last 6 years, but this expanded into 40 years, ending in the 1970s. In between the 40 years, penicillin was proven to be a treatment for syphilis & the regulations were made. Yet this experiment continued with these 600 men who were falsely informed of what they had. These non-prisoner were aleady msitreated making the possibilities of an actual prisoner being maltreated very…

    • 814 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rube Goldberg Story

    • 591 Words
    • 3 Pages

    My story starts with a grapple and a frantic air. That is how most of us were taken. Grabbed from our homes and lined up to be taken to concentration camps. Most of us were taken without a glance, but as the SS officers came in the door, one of them turned to stare at me eyes. I did not resist.…

    • 591 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Tuskegee Experiment

    • 2908 Words
    • 9 Pages

    The original study of the Tuskegee research was a disreputable medical experiment carried out in the United States between 1932 and 1972, in which almost 400 black Americans with syphilis were offered no medical treatment, allowing researchers to see the course of the disease. The events of the Tuskegee research triggered extensive values of legislation, including the National Research Act, and the experiment attracted a great deal of public attention. Many people regard the Tuskegee Experiment as an extremely shameful event in American history, and several organizations including the Centers for Disease Control have extensive archives on the experiment which are available to interested members of the public who want to learn more about it.…

    • 2908 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    1) Was it ethical to do this study? Was it right to trade the suffering experienced by participants for the knowledge gained by the research? (The experimenters did not take this issue lightly, although the Slide Show may sound somewhat matter-of-fact about the events and experiences that occurred).…

    • 276 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Prisoners of Auschwitz were already tormented beyond belief. The torment began even before we arrived at Auschwitz. We were transported in cattle cars. There was no food or water supplied. We were so…

    • 526 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Holocaust was one of the most horrifying crimes against humanity. "Hitler, in an attempt to establish the pure Aryan race, decided that Jews, Poles, Soviet prisoners of war, Roma (Gypsies), and homosexuals amongst others were to be eliminated from the German population. One of his main methods of exterminating these "undesirables" was through the use of concentration and death camps. In January of 1941, Adolf Hitler and his top officials decided to make their "final solution" a reality. Their goal was to eliminate the Jews and the "impure" from the entire German population. Auschwitz was not only the largest concentration camp that carried out Hitler's "final solution," but it was also the most extensive. It was comprised of three separate camps that encompassed approximately 25 square miles. Although millions of people came to Auschwitz, it is doubted that more than 120,000-150,000 ever lived there at any one time. (Encyclopedia of the Holocaust)…

    • 2315 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Informed Consent

    • 2404 Words
    • 10 Pages

    World Medical Association. WMA Declaration of Helsinki – Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects. Web. 7 Mar. 2013.…

    • 2404 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    During WWII & the reign of Hitler was the Auschwitz Concentration Camp, a labor camp, which could be considered to be one of the worst places for a person of the Jewish faith place to be at that time in history. Handed down through history, it is considered to be one of the brutalist places on earth that a person could be. As James Deem described it, “Prisoners receiving punishment were often placed in cramped basement cells and deprived of food” (9). To be put into simple terms, it was torture. As it will be described, conditions will range from severe to critical in regards to human treatment.…

    • 658 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays