Chester M. Southam

“In quixotically trying to conquer death doctors all too frequently do no good for their patients’ “ease” but at the same time they do harm instead by prolonguing and even magnifying patients’ dis-ease.”

Chester M. Southam, MD, was an American virologist who worked on curing cancer. “Studies had shown that a pathogen called the Russian spring-summer encephalitis virus could eradicate tumors in mice. Because that virus was considered too dangerous for people, Southam searched for something milder, settling on the newly discovered West Nile virus.” He had already spent some time in Africa injecting an assortment of viruses including mumps, dengue, West Nile, and Semliki Forest virus in severely ill cancer patients. The West Nile Virus usually

Southam, MD violated both the letter and spirit of such basic ethical principles as respect for persons, truth-telling, and informed consent. He ignored informed consent for the sake of the patients’ as he would say, but we can never be deductively positive. He violated the virtue of truth-telling through withholding the information of HeLa from many of his patients. Ultimately being found guilty of “unprofessionalism and deceit” is more evidence of his deplorable behavior as a professional. Evidence of his lack of respect for persons comes from Kantian deontological ethics, and his categorical imperative. Never treat a human person as means to an end, only as ends in

Southam’s practice, beginning with the Code’s number 1 rule, “The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential.” Other rules under the Nuremberg Code were broken as well, however all of these egregious behaviors of researchers, more so than just Southam, have influenced the tight research protocols in place today. As Dr. Hardy shared information on research protocols, she consistently referred back to a strict system of regulations that, at times, may seem a little extreme. The alternative, a system permitting researchers like Southam, would be a far harder bullet to bite. In the end, I am glad these systems are in place to try to ensure a trust between patients and