Results

Hepatitis Studies at the Willowbrook State School for Children with Mental Retardation
James M. DuBois
From 1956 through 1971, residents at the Willowbrook State School for Children with Mental Retardation were infected with live hepatitis in order to develop a vaccine. Parents gave permission for their children to participate in this study, often because it guaranteed acceptance into the overcrowded facility.

Conducting Clinical Drug Trials with Children
Celia B. Fisher
A team of psychologists and psychiatrists at a medical school received IRB approval to assess the behavioral, cognitive, and physical side effects of a medication recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an alternative to methylphenidate (Ritalin) in hyperactive children. Fisher presents this as an example of best practice.

Differing Perceptions of Risks and Benefits
Emily E. Anderson
A researcher conducts a non-therapeutic study with young adults with Tourette’s Syndrome and their families. The participants’ perceptions of risks and benefits differ from those of the researcher.

It's All the Same
James M. DuBois
A psychiatric researcher feels that a research coordinator recruiting patients for drug trials may be giving participants false hope about the experimental treatments being tested.

Do No Harm
Patricia Keith-Spiegel and Gerald P. Koocher
Researchers offer low-income parents several hundred dollars to enroll their infant children in research that has no potential benefits. The authors present this case as an example of poor research practices.

Observing Self-injurious Behavior
Gerald P. Koocher and Patricia C. Keith-Spiegel
In order to get baseline data for an experimental study on self-injurious behavior in autistic children, participants were observed without intervention unless the child was engaging in behavior that would cause permanent injury. The authors present this case as an example of best practice.

Students as Research Subjects
William Timberlake
A researcher recruits students to participate in study to test an experimental treatment for depression. Several students who are randomly assigned to the control group voice complaints about their lack of treatment.

Disulfiram
Peter Finn
A researcher designs an experiment to test the effectiveness of disulfiram alone versus in combination with three other treatments (alcohol education, relapse prevention, or Alcoholics Anonymous). Subjects are volunteers who have sought treatment for alcoholism elsewhere but cannot afford to enter a clinic program.

Psychosis Inducing Experiments
James M. DuBois
The director of an advocacy groups asks your hospital’s ethics review board to discontinue all washout and psychosis-inducing studies.

Proposed Study of the Natural Course of Schizophrenia with Self-Help Supports
Jean Campbell
In response to the suggestions of advocates, mental health consumers, and researchers that people with mental illness suffer more from the disabling effects of psychotropic medications, institutionalization, and other treatments than from the disease itself, government scientists propose a study of the natural course of schizophrenia.