The Long History of Vulnerable Children Used in Medical Experiments

Photo by Jaime Spaniol

Children deserve care, protection, and dignity.

Yet history shows that vulnerable children—especially those without strong protection from family or community—have sometimes been placed in medical experiments without the safeguards we expect today.

These children were often:

• poor
• institutionalized
• Indigenous
• Black
• disabled
• orphaned
• enslaved
• or living in foster care

Many had little ability to refuse.

Many had no adult whose sole role was to defend their rights.

Learning this history is not about creating fear.
It is about making sure safe adults stay alert, ask questions, and protect children.

When Children Have No Power, Systems Must Be Watched Closely

Historically, researchers often turned to groups who had the least power to say no.

These included children living in:

• orphanages
• residential schools
• psychiatric institutions
• foster care systems
• boarding schools
• plantations and enslaved communities

Without strong advocates, their safety depended almost entirely on the ethics of the adults around them.

Sometimes those protections failed.

Enslaved Black Children and Early Medical Experimentation

During slavery in the United States, enslaved people were treated as property under the law.

This meant enslaved children had no legal right to refuse medical procedures or experimentation.

Historical records show that enslaved children were sometimes:

• subjected to painful surgical procedures
• used in early vaccine experimentation
• forced to endure medical interventions without consent

Enslaved women and children were especially vulnerable because slaveholders controlled their access to doctors.

The legacy of this era still shapes how many Black communities view medical systems today.

Trust must be earned.

Indigenous Children and Nutrition Experiments

Indigenous children were also placed in vulnerable positions during the era of government-run boarding schools in both the United States and Canada.

In the 1940s, researchers conducted nutrition experiments on Indigenous children living in residential schools.

Investigations later revealed that in some schools:

• children’s food intake was deliberately restricted
• vitamin supplements were tested without proper consent
• dental care was sometimes withheld so researchers could study the progression of disease

These practices were later condemned as serious violations of ethical standards.

Orphanage Vaccine Experiments

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, medical research sometimes made use of orphanages.

Doctors developing vaccines and treatments occasionally tested them on children living in institutional care.

Because these children lacked parents to advocate for them, administrators often gave consent on their behalf.

Some research contributed to medical progress.

But the rights and dignity of individual children were often overlooked.

The Willowbrook Hepatitis Studies

From 1956 to 1970, children with intellectual disabilities living at Willowbrook State School in New York were intentionally infected with hepatitis so researchers could study the disease.

Parents were sometimes told participation could help their child gain admission to the overcrowded institution.

Public outrage later forced major reforms in research ethics.

Two Lesser-Known Examples That Matter for Child Protection

1. The Fernald State School Radiation Experiments

In the 1940s and 1950s, boys living at the Walter E. Fernald State School in Massachusetts—many of them labeled as intellectually disabled—were enrolled in radiation experiments.

Researchers added radioactive substances to their food as part of government-funded nutrition studies.

Parents were often told the children were joining a “science club,” without being fully informed of the risks.

Decades later, the U.S. government acknowledged the ethical violations.

2. Dermatology Experiments on Incarcerated Youth

In the mid-20th century, dermatological experiments were sometimes conducted on incarcerated youth in detention facilities.

Some teenagers were exposed to chemical substances or skin irritants to study their reactions and develop products.

Many of these young people came from poor communities and had limited legal representation.

Their ability to refuse participation was deeply compromised.

HIV Drug Trials and Foster Children

During the AIDS crisis of the 1990s and early 2000s, hundreds of HIV-positive children in foster care participated in clinical trials testing new antiretroviral medications.

Many were Black and Latino children living in large urban foster systems.

Later investigations found concerns including:

• incomplete documentation
• missing independent advocates in some cases
• weak oversight procedures

Officials argued the trials were intended to help children receive life-saving treatment during a devastating epidemic.

But the controversy again revealed how vulnerable children can be when systems make decisions without strong advocacy.

The Lesson Safe Adults Must Learn

History keeps repeating the same warning.

Children without strong advocates are at risk of being overlooked when powerful systems make decisions.

Safe adults must be willing to:

• listen to whistleblowers
• listen to child advocates
• listen to parent advocates
• investigate concerns instead of dismissing them
• learn from past mistakes instead of repeating them

Ignoring warnings is how systems fail children.

Listening is how children stay protected.

Wisdom From Scholars

“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.”
— Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“Medical racism did not happen only once in history. It is a pattern we must be willing to confront honestly.”
— Dr. Harriet A. Washington, author of Medical Apartheid

“Research must be accountable to the people whose lives it touches. Communities deserve protection, respect, and a voice.”
— Dr. Bonnie Duran, Indigenous public health scholar

These voices remind us that ethics in medicine must always be tied to human dignity.

The Safeguards That Exist Today

Because of past abuses, strict protections now exist in medical research:

• Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) reviewing studies
• informed consent requirements
• additional protections for children
• independent advocates for children who are wards of the state

These protections exist because history showed they were necessary.

Moving Forward

In every era, there will be powerful voices claiming to know better.

They will have money, influence, titles, and polished language.

But when it comes to protecting children, wisdom often rises from quieter places.

From the parents who refuse to ignore warning signs.
From the advocates who sit beside frightened children.
From the whistleblowers who risk their careers to tell the truth.

Listen to the voices from the trenches.

They are not chasing power.
They are protecting children.

History has taught us something simple:
When the powerful argue, listen carefully to the people protecting the children.

Every generation has a responsibility.

We can either repeat painful lessons, or we can learn from them.

Safe adults protect children by:

seeing them
listening to them
defending them
and refusing to ignore warning signs.

Children should never be invisible inside institutions.

And when someone raises concerns about their safety, the response should not be silence.

The response should be attention, investigation, and protection.