Justifying Evil; Chester Southam
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This is the second part in a series of hubs called justifying evil. I had wrote one earlier that was about Cornelius Rhoades. The man pictured here, Chester Southam, had a lot of his education from Rhoades. The atrocities these men committed would get them the death penalty in many places, but in the United States, Chester Southam has cancer research centers named after him. He is revered by some top scientists and doctors. This man destroyed lives all in the name of studying cancer. Lets take a look at some of the unethical and criminal practices he used.
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1952
The atmosphere was dark and dreary. Some of the participants wore blue and others white. Some knew what they were doing and some didn't. I am sure almost, if not all, were scared.
Dr. Southam pushed the needle in their arms injecting live cancer cells. It was Southam's idea along with Sloan-Kettering Institute to see if these people's bodies would fight the cancer off or they would get cancer. The subjects were not paid, but I'm sure Southam was.
This whole process was done in the Ohio State Penitentiary. They had captive subjects. Many people probably thought this was ok since they were prisoners. Really now, that is just a sick way of thinking.
Southam didn't stop with convicts either.
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1962
Ten years later, Chester was at the Jewish Chronic Disease Hospital in Brooklyn, New York. He did the same thing to 22 elderly patients that he did to the convicts. Who knows how many he killed, but he should have been given time in prison. The hospital tried to cover the whole thing up, but when discovered, Southam was given 1 year probation.
The sickest part about all of this is: The American Cancer Society elected Chester Southam to the position of vice-president in 1964.
Southam is dead now, but his research lives on. Maybe it helped, but was it right? I say no!
Do we justify research with tests on humans that don't even know what they are doing?
I really wonder if there is a special hell for people like Rhoades and Southam.
© G.L. Boudonck
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Unfortunately there are too many organizations and people who think that when you are dealing with an issue where "the greater good for the many..." then they have no problem justifying "the ends justifies the means..."
Just as unfortunately, no matter how barbaric it sounds, there just may be times and issues when they could be right.
GA
Filkman 8 months ago
Unbelievable...wow!
I think it would be rather amusing if his final judge turned out to be an elderly Jewish convict packing a nine-inch needle (ACS approved, of course...)