Obama Administration Claims Immunity in 'Shameful' STD Study of Guatemalans Published January 10, 2012 Guatemalan prostitutes, prisoners and mental patients who were intentionally exposed to sexually transmitted diseases, without their knowledge or consent, by U.S. researchers in the 1940s, cannot sue the United States argued the Obama Administration on Monday, no matter how shameful and unethical the studies were. In its first response to a lawsuit filed on behalf of the experiment's subjects, the Justice Department late Monday said sovereign immunity protects federal health officials from litigation stemming from the study. The experiment conducted in the 1940s exposed Guatemalan civilians to test the effects of penicillin. President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius all have apologized for the research, hidden for decades until a Wellesley College medical historian uncovered the records in 2009. The Justice Department filing Monday said the studies were "a deeply troubling chapter in our nation's history." "As a result of these unethical studies, a terrible wrong has occurred. The United States is committed to taking appropriate steps to address that wrong," the filing said, without elaborating on what steps might be planned. But the government attorneys argued, "This lawsuit is not the proper vehicle — and this court is not the proper forum — through which the consequences of this shameful conduct may be resolved." The government says the Federal Tort Claims Act protects the United States from lawsuits based on injuries suffered in a foreign country, even if the acts that caused the harm were planned in the United States. Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/lati.....alans/#ixzz1j52c7EkY |
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