Johns Hopkins University is facing a $1 billion lawsuit stemming from experiments done by the US government over 60 years ago. According to the lawsuit, the university is responsible for creating and designing the experiment so many years ago, and they are now being held liable for the results.
The experiment in question was conducted in the 1940s and 50s in Guatemala by the US government using over 800 people as human guinea pigs as they experimented with syphilis and other STDs. As part of the experiment, partipants were intentionally infected with the diseases without their knowledge.
Paul Bekman, one of the attorneys representing the victims and their families said, "They kept a lid on it, making sure that nobody knew about it, and they actively deceived these people. There was no consent obtained for and from anybody,
In a statement, the university responded to the suit by saying, "Johns Hopkins expresses profound sympathy for individuals and families impacted by the deplorable 1940s syphilis study conducted by the U.S. Government in Guatemala. This was not a Johns Hopkins study. Johns Hopkins did not initiate, pay for, direct or conduct the study in Guatemala. No nonprofit university or hospital has ever been held liable for a study conducted by the U.S. Government."
The study recently came to light in 2012, prompting President Obama to apologize for the research. Since then a Presidential Commisson has established that the research was conducted and paid for by the US government.
Johns Hopkins has denied any involvement in the experiments saying that it did not initiate, pay for, or conduct the experiment.
A class action lawsuit was originally filed against the federal government over the experiments but was dismissed in 2012.
"Doctors who were employers of Johns Hopkins went to NIH and served on NIH study committees in their capacity on behalf of the federal government, but not on behalf of Johns Hopkins," said Robert Mathias, lead counsel for Johns Hopkins.
Mathias went on to say that the lawsuit has no merit and even if it did it is beyond the statute of limitations stating the university plans to vigorously defend the lawsuit.
For more than a half a century following these experiments, scholars, clinicians and ethicists have worked with government officials to establish only the highest ethical standards in regards to human experimentation.
In addition to Johns Hopkins University, the suit also names the Rockefeller Foundation and New York pharmaceutical company Bristol Meyers Squibb as being held liable for the study.
