Clinical Research Past and Present

The event that stood out the most to me during my clinical experience this month was when my assigned patient and her family began asking questions about the care the patient was receiving and other non-medical related questions.

There are laws to allow only safe research but dangerous research still occurs anyways. For example in Pennsylvania Prisoners Were Human Guinea Pigs in Army Mind-Drug Test it says, “320 prisoners were injected with varying doses of 16 drugs in secret chemical warfare experiments” (Epstien 1). Different substances that are used in chemical warfare were tested on prisoners which is clearly a dangerous test to perform where casualties would be expected. This was secret research performed by the military and was comparable to the research that was performed on Jews in the concentration camps such as Auschwitz. Another example of dangerous research is, “he used radioactive materials, hallucinogenic drugs, and carcinogenic materials on prisoners” (Urbina

It hasn’t changed that the average person doesn’t like to feel pain or be ill. The evolution of medicine from 1776 to 1938 in the United States depended on the knowledge of current diseases and treatment at that time. The major diseases during this time were pneumonia, influenza, tuberculosis, gastrointestinal infections, heart disease and cerebrovascular disease.1 Ironically, much of those diseases still exist today. Over time, the world’s demand for drugs for any type of illness or disease drastically skyrocketed. Was the medicine really working or were people psyched into believing they had an illness? The diagnosis and treatment was incorrect many times, resulting in “shoulda, coulda, and wouldas” when dealing with diagnosis and medicine. Without a scientific basis, medical doctors, such as Benjamin Rush were ineffective with proper treatment, and quacks promoted strange treatments as to say: Yackedy Quack, Don’t Talk Back. By the end of the 20th Century, one could say American medicine was on the rise and researchers and physician were much more respected.

Nowadays, medicine is tested and approved before it hits the market. Back in the days a person would pass treatments through word of mouth and could seriously injure or make the disease worse. People in historical times would believe that illnesses involved certain spiritual, psychological and social aspects of a person. This was back in the time where there was no scientific evidence that traditional medicine could aid an affected person. Traditional medicine has been around much longer than modern medicine and they were an important part of recorded history. People back in the old days had to dispel and challenge folklore with scientific evidence. Doctors back in the old days had to not only find a way to dispel folklore, but also get ordinary people to listen to them and to help them believe in their practices. Without all of these people, medicine would be nowhere near as it is

As Marston states, “people need real cures based on real science – not misleading and antiquated animal experiments (Pycroft and Marston 36).”

Medicine has been developed and discovered for thousands of years; however, the 1920’s was the first decade that fashioned a pathway for new developments and discoveries. Medical professionals have taken a huge hit for their fight in finding new inventions that can save patients from death’s hands. In the 1920’s, medicine has also taken a tremendous leap in controlling fatal diseases such as diabetes (Pendergast 110). Medicine in the 1920’s has altered the way medicine is shaped today; furthermore, the development and discovery of the iron lung, penicillin, and insulin were the first pertinent breakthroughs in medical history (“Iron” par. 7; Grimsley par. 15; “Banting” par. 13).

Over the last 100 years, the United States of America have experienced loss of human lives due to various causes. These deaths can be attributed to deficiencies in the medicines for curing the corresponding diseases. There have being changes over time as the main cause for a particular period of time does not persist forever. The most dangerous diseases during the year 1900 are not still dangerous today. This is because of the improvements that have

In the mid to late 1800s, there was a multitude of medications available without prescription, popularly called patent medicines. They were purported to contain mystical cures for everything from arthritis, to erectile dysfunction, to baldness. As one advertisement for Hamlin’s Wizard Oil shows, they were often sold as cure alls; “Hamlin’s Wizard Oil, the greatest family remedy for rheumatism, neuralgia, headache, toothache, diphtheria, sore throat, lame back, sprains, bruises, corns, cramps, colic, diarrhea, and all pain, and inflammation” (Neurologica Blog). In reality, there were no

Most concoctions that were given were just remedies to relieve symptoms as there is no cure -- even to this day. “Headaches were relieved by rose, lavender, sage and bay. Sickness or nausea was treated with wormwood, mint, and balm. Lung problems were treated with liquorice and comfrey. Vinegar was used as a cleansing agent as it was believed that it would kill disease.” The shortcomings of medical science were highlighted by the Black Plague, it caused people to change their focus. People became aware of the need of surgeons and focus on human bodies different various states of sickness and

Nowadays, the drug is only used for advanced cancers and severe complications of leprosy. Also, due to the German measles (Rubella) epidemic in the United States in 1962, thousands of children were born with birth defects. Sometimes, the pregnant women were also affected by these high risk pregnancies. However, these women could not seek abortions due to the strict bans. (Supreme Court Drama, wikipedia.org, time.com)

A terrible incident happened in Tennessee in 1937 when a drug called Elixir Sulfanilamide was mislabeled and contained toxic quantities of antifreeze that killed over 100 people (FDA's Origin & Functions - FDA History). Before this event, Congress debated substituting the 1906 Act and this instance in Tennessee drove Congress to approve the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938 that provided an updated set of standards. Unlike before when the government had to disprove a drug was effective, the new act stated that drugs had to be proven effective before being sold. It not only replaced the Pure Food and Durg Act, but the Sherley Amendment as well (Centennial Edition of FDA Consumer).

This poisonous drug that had the ability to severely damage the anatomical structure of fetuses to the point of death passed unnoticed for several years. The highly concentrated infant mortality toll is a despairing loss of innocent life. Additionally, several hundred more babies from Australia, Great Britain, Japan, and Canada were affected. The international widespread death magnified the tragedy, adding salt to the wound. The immense death toll is considered an international failure because of the shared infant death crisis. Since the distribution of Thalidomide caused thousands of premature infant deaths, it can be classified as historically tragic. In addition to premature deaths, Thalidomide’s consumption in the early 1960s is also tragic in another way.

In the late 1950s, the Thalidomide drug was used in Europe to treat morning sickness in pregnant women among other things. This study involved manufacturing company providing samples of this drug to physicians and compensating them to study the benefits and results of this drug. Although allegedly this drug did not cause any harm to the mother the fetus suffered severe damage as a result. There were thousands of children born with

In the early 1950s, scientists at Chemie Grunenthal GmbH, a German pharmaceutical company developed a drug called Thalidomide. The drug was developed to treat respiratory infections and influenza however after getting minimal results they then decided to market the drug as a sleep aid and to treat morning sickness. Due to improper testing Thalidomide was released on the market and caused countless still births, miscarriages and tens of thousands of babies to be born with birth defects. (Lenz, 1988) This became the start of one of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical disasters. This essay will explore the history of Thalidomide and the effects it had on the human race. Through this I will show how bad science can be detrimental to society and

David Salsburg of Pfizer Central Research has noted that of 19 chemicals known to cause cancer in humans when ingested, only seven caused cancer in mice and rats using the standards set by the National Cancer Institute. This justifies that many substances that appeared safe in animal studies and received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in humans later proved dangerous to people. The drug milrinone, which raises cardiac output, increased survival of rats with artificially induced heart failure; humans with severe chronic heart failure taking this drug had a 30 percent increase in fatalities. Also, the antiviral drug fialuridine seemed safe in animal trials yet caused liver failure in seven of 15 humans taking the drug (five of these patients died as a result of the medication, and the other two received liver transplants). Scientists and the populous that do not agree with