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Johns Hopkins faces $1bn class lawsuit over experiments on people in STDs study

Thursday, April 2, 2015 13:11

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Over 750 plaintiffs are suing Johns Hopkins University over its role in medical experiments in Guatemala in the 1940s and 1950s. Hundreds were deliberately infected with sexually-transmitted diseases as part of a US government program.

The lawsuit in Baltimore seeks $1 billion in damages for individuals, spouses and children of the victims, who were infected with diseases including syphilis and gonorrhea. It seeks at least $75,000 in damages for each of nine counts.

Former research subjects and their families claim Johns Hopkins officials had “substantial influence” over the studies and were involved in masterminding the experiments. The plaintiffs also feature the estates and families of 124 people who died from complications of diseases that they contracted through the hazardous experiments.

While an attorney for the university has called the suit “baseless,” officials from the institution described the experiments as “deplorable” and “unconscionable,” while arguing they didn’t “initiate, pay for, direct or conduct” the Guatemala studies.

“For more than half a century since the time of the Guatemala study, scholars, ethicists and clinicians have worked with government officials to establish rigorous ethical standards for human research. Johns Hopkins welcomes bioethical inquiry into the US government’s Guatemala study and its legacy,” Kim Hoppe, a university spokeswoman, said in an email, according to the Baltimore Sun.

“This lawsuit, however, is an attempt by plaintiffs’ counsel to exploit a historic tragedy for monetary gain,” he added.

In 2010, US President Barack Obama called the experiments carried out during the administration of President Truman, “clearly unethical” and apologized to those subjected to them, expressing “deep regret.”

In 2011, the victims sued eight US government officials over the study, a federal judge dismissed the case, however, saying that the government could not be held liable for actions committed in another country.