The Occasional Human Sacrifice: Medical Experimentation and the Price of Saying No

Abstract

We understand many of the reasons our patients are mistrustful of medicine, but Carl Elliott's The Occasional Human Sacrifice: Medical Experimentation and the Price of Saying No makes the case that the call may be coming from inside the house.His book is equal parts memoir, investigative journalism, and history of seven canonical cases of whistleblowing in academic medicine.Tuskegee and Willowbrook are likely well-known cases to medical educators; the other five may be new: "The Hutch" bone marrow studies, the Cincinnati radiation experiments, New Zealand's "Unfortunate Experiment," the fraudulent surgeon Paolo Macchiarini, and Elliott's own experience at the University of Minnesota, whistleblowing the case of Dan Markingson who died by suicide during a study on the antipsychotic drug Seroquel.

Topics & Concepts