In tandem with Harriet A. Washington, MA (Columbia) virtual lecture series, the Eccles Health Sciences Library will be hosting this semester’s Community Read of Ms. Washington’s books: Carte Blanche AND Medical Apartheid – Tuesdays, Sept 14 – Oct 26, 2021 @ 12:00 – 1:00 pm MDT via Zoom: Registration is Required.
Readings are listed and linked in the Community Read LibGuide. Books are available in print via checkout or electronically via the Libraries’ online catalog:
Carte Blanche: The Erosion of Medical Consent
Co-Sponsors of Community Read: Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library (EHSL), Office of Health Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (UHealth OHEDI), Center for Health Ethics, Arts, and Humanities (CHeEtAH), Tanner Humanities Center, and The Black Cultural Center (BCC).
“Carte Blanche relates an alarming reality—how the right of Americans to say “no” to risky medical research is being systematically eroded. For decades, medical research has been “legally” conducted on trauma victims—who often are people of color—without their consent, or even their knowledge. Harriet A. Washington, the author of Medical Apartheid, again exposes a large-scale violation of patient, civil, and human rights. In 1990, the Department of Defense forced an experimental anthrax vaccine on ground troops headed for the Persian Gulf. After two 1996 loopholes to federal law permitted research to be conducted even on private citizens, the military quietly used the dangerous blood substitute PolyHeme on non-consenting victims. Since then, more than a dozen studies have used the consent loopholes to impose risky and potentially deadly drugs and devices on research subjects without their knowledge, especially in people of color, many of whom were already justifiably distrustful of documented racial bias in medicine. Carte Blanche is an exposé of a U.S. medical-research system that has repeatedly shown that it is untrustworthy.” – Columbia Global Reports
Medical Apartheid – “The first full history of Black America’s shocking mistreatment as unwilling and unwitting experimental subjects at the hands of the medical establishment. No one concerned with issues of public health and racial justice can afford not to read this masterful book that will stir up both controversy and long-needed debate. From the era of slavery to the present day, starting with the earliest encounters between Black Americans and Western medical researchers and the racist pseudoscience that resulted, Medical Apartheid details the ways both slaves and freedmen were used in hospitals for experiments conducted without their knowledge—a tradition that continues today within some black populations. It reveals how Blacks have historically been prey to grave-robbing as well as unauthorized autopsies and dissections. Moving into the twentieth century, it shows how the pseudoscience of eugenics and social Darwinism was used to justify experimental exploitation and shoddy medical treatment of Blacks. Shocking new details about the government’s notorious Tuskegee experiment are revealed, as are similar, less-well-known medical atrocities conducted by the government, the armed forces, prisons, and private institutions. The product of years of prodigious research into medical journals and experimental reports long undisturbed, Medical Apartheid reveals the hidden underbelly of scientific research and makes possible, for the first time, an understanding of the roots of the African American health deficit. At last, it provides the fullest possible context for comprehending the behavioral fallout that has caused Black Americans to view researchers—and indeed the whole medical establishment—with such deep distrust.” – Harlem Moon
Questions? Contact: joan.gregory@utah.edu
DISCLOSURE: None of the faculty or planners or anyone in control of content for this continuing medical education activity have any relevant financial relationships since the content does not cover any products/services of a commercial interest; therefore, there are no relevant financial relationships to disclose. AMA CREDIT: The University of Utah School of Medicine designates this live activity for a maximum of 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. All attendees are encouraged to use the CME system to claim their attendance. Physicians will be awarded AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™; all other professions will be awarded attendance at a CME event credit that they may use for their re‐credentialing purposes. All users will be able to print or save certificates. For questions regarding the CME system, please contact the UUCME Office. For questions regarding re‐credentialing process or requirements, please contact your re-credentialing organization. ACCREDITATION: The University Of Utah School Of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians. NONDISCRIMINATION AND DISABILITY ACCOMMODATION STATEMENT: The University of Utah does not exclude, deny benefits to or otherwise discriminate against any person on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, veteran’s status, religion, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, or sexual orientation in admission to or participation in its programs and activities. Reasonable accommodations will be provided to qualified individuals with disabilities upon request, with reasonable notice. Requests for accommodations or inquiries or complaints about University nondiscrimination and disability/access policies may be directed to the Director, OEO/AA, Title IX/Section 504/ADA Coordinator, 201 S President’s Circle, RM 135, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, 801-581-8365 (Voice/TTY), 801-585-5746 (Fax).
