Johns Hopkins and Rockefeller Foundation lawsuit: Almost 800 sue after victims were unknowingly infected with syphilis in US Government experiment

Almost 800 people have filed a $1 billion (£676 million) suit against the Johns Hopkins Hospital System Corp after hundreds were unwittingly infected with syphilis, gonorrhoea and other infections as part of study into sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) conducted by the US Government more than 65 years ago.

The former research subjects were infected in Guatemala as part of a study looking at ways of preventing STDs spreading. The law suit filed by the participants alleges that the university had “substantial influence” over the studies by controlling some panels that advised the federal government on how to spend research funds.

It claims that Johns Hopkins and the Rockefeller Foundation, which is also named as a defendant, “exercised control over, supervised, supported, encouraged, participated in and directed the course of the experiments”, according to the Associated Press …. http://www.independent.co.uk