From: jad@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (John DiNardo)
Subject: Part V, Doctors Secretly Inject Cancer Cells Into Patients
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Distribution: na
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 16:04:27 GMT
Followup-To: alt.conspiracy
Keywords: shades of Dr. Mengele,  human medical experimentation


        I made the following transcript from a tape recording 
        of a broadcast by Pacifica Radio station
               WBAI-FM (99.5)
               505 Eighth Ave., 19th Fl.
               New York, NY 10018       (212) 279-0707

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                        (continuation)
GARY NULL:
When Doctor Cagan was informed a few days later that his superior
had assigned the project to another doctor, Cagan replied that he
was, according to his affidavit, quote:

   "glad to have nothing to do with it (the experiment), even if  
    we could get such consents, which I doubted."

Unquote.  Well, despite the opposition of these three doctors and
the obvious problem of obtaining informed consent by chronically
ill patients to injections of live cancer cells, the experiment
was commenced. At this time, twenty-two patients at the Jewish
Chronic Disease Hospital (now remember, this was many years ago)
were injected in their thighs with specially prepared suspensions
of human cancer cells. By later accounts, the doctor from
Sloan-Kettering who created this whole thing injected the first two
or three patients as a demonstration. Then the person who was
assigned to do the job did the rest. There were some conflicts as
to exactly how consent had been obtained. No one seems to know.
One thing is certain, however. No written consent was obtained from
any patient. None. Zero.  Consequently, the only proof that such
consent was given at all comes from the statements of the doctors
participating in the administration of the injections. And this, of
course, raises quite a few questions. Did the doctors fully inform
each and every patient that they were being injected with live
cancer cells in an experiment TOTALLY unrelated to their normal
course of therapy? And, if so, were these chronically ill patients
mentally competent to understand the nature of the experiment and
the risks involved?  Well with Sloan-Kettering's scientist's
awareness of, quote:

   "the phobia and ignorance that surrounds the word `cancer'"

unquote, and with his admitted failure to obtain consents in
previous experiments because he considered them, quote, "routine",
unquote, how realistic is it to expect him to inform the chronically
ill patients at the Jewish Chronic Disease Hospital that they were
being injected with live cancer cells?
 
In addition to the issue of informed consent, there was equal
controversy about the secretive and surreptitious manner in which
the experiment was conducted. Again, the doctor who was the head of
all cancer research at the Jewish Chronic Disease Hospital was
Doctor Leichter. And he was strongly opposed to the experiment.
Now, under normal hospital protocol, any experiment involving
cancer would have required his consent and approval. And furthermore,
all the people utilized for the experiment were patients in the
Blumberg Pavilion which was, at that time, and had been since 1956,
under the supervision of a Doctor Rosenfeld. That's according to
Doctor Rosenfeld's affidavit. Doctor Rosenfeld, who was responsible
for the patients in his ward, should also, under normal protocol,
have been informed of the experiments. Instead, according to the
affidavit of Doctor Rosenfeld, he first learned of the experiment
on his patients in his ward after the experiment was in process.
When he was making his usual rounds of the Blumberg Pavilion,
accompanied by another physician, quote:

   "A ward patient stopped me, complaining bitterly of pain. He told
    me that he was injected under the right thigh and that the area
    was now swollen. He said that he had not been sick at the time
    that he received the injection, and he stated further that he
    knew that I had not ordered anything for him."

Unquote. That's according to his affidavit.  Puzzled by his patient's
complaints, Doctor Rosenfeld asked another physician if he could
explain this matter, at which time that other physician told him
that he was doing experimental injections on the orders of one of
the top directors of the hospital. A few days later, Rosenfeld was
approached by one of the doctors who had been approached, and who
had refused to participate in the experiment. That was Doctor Cagan.
Cagan told Rosenfeld about the experiment and expressed his
opposition to it, as well as that of Doctors Leichter and Fersko.
Well, Doctor Rosenfeld was angry, not only because he was never 
consulted, but also because of the violations of protocol which now
appeared to be showing up in a number of situations. He said, quote:

   "I felt that it was my duty to inform the administration of my 
    findings, as all new projects involving experimental drugs
    or agents, prior to their being used on patients, had to be 
    approved by the research committee. This had not been done, nor
    had the project received the approval of Doctor David Leichter,
    even though this was a cancer project. In addition, it was being
    performed on patients for whom I am responsible in the Blumberg
    Pavilion, which patients had not been advised of the nature of 
    the project, had not been told of the potential dangers, had not
    given their prior written consent, and had not given their oral
    consent. There were eighteen patients in my ward who received 
    these injections, and many of them were mentally incapable of 
    giving their consent. In my opinion, this project was, therefore,
    both illegal and immoral, and it has been conducted
    surreptitiously without my knowledge or consent."

Unquote.  That's from Doctor Rosenfeld's affidavit. 
By mid-August, the hospital was abuzz with rumors surrounding the
experiment. [The rumbling] reached such a proportion that the
executive director of the hospital, a Doctor Solomon Siegel, cut
his Florida vaction short and returned immediately to New York in
order to investigate the source of the uproar. Siegel talked with
Rosenfeld, Leichter and Cagan separately and asked each of them
separately what they knew. Each told him about the experiment and
expressed their uneasiness about its taking place under the auspices
of the Jewish Chronic Disease Hospital. According to Leichter, he
told Siegel at that time that he felt that the project was, quote:
"immoral and illegal without the written prior informed consent of
each and every informed patient."  Unquote.  

Leichter also expressed concern about the danger that cancer cell
injections were being given to hospital patients, and he warned
Siegel of, quote: "the tremendous damage it could do to the
reputation of the hospital and to its standing in society." Unquote.
                       (to be continued)
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      If you agree that this story deserves broad public attention,
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      John DiNardo