1. Apologize to the families of infants who were experimented on without their parents’ informed consent.
2. Fully disclose to them the risks the study posed to their children.
3. Ensure that no federally funded studies repeat this tragic breach of scientific ethics.
Why is this important?
Between 2005 and 2009 — at 23 hospitals throughout the country run by prominent universities including Yale, Stanford, Brown and Duke — 1,316 premature infants were the subjects of a government-funded clinical trial where some received more oxygen than others.
The parents of these helpless research subjects were never informed that some newborns would be at increased risk of blindness, lung injury, brain damage or even death.
Add your name to our petition demanding that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius take immediate steps to address this grievous ethical breakdown.
