[image: Heaton, n.d. image of a strain of gonorrhea.]
[image: Heaton, n.d. image of a strain of gonorrhea.]
HENRY HEIMAN AND THE GONORRHEA CHILDREN
In the late 19th century, Dr. Henry Heiman was a pediatrician at a New York institute. In his own private time, Heiman was working with multiple other doctors to truly understand different body diseases, specifically sexually transmitted infections, or STIs. In one of his published papers, Heiman analyzed how the bacteria Gonococcus, a bacterium that causes gonorrhea, had spread in multiple patients and what it did to their bodies.
In 1895 in a study published by Heiman himself, he admitted to injecting three disabled boys with gonorrhea bacteria in order to further study the infection. All three of the boys, aged four, sixteen, and twenty-six, were either sick or disabled, meaning the likelihood of them understanding what was occurring or giving consent for it to happen was low. Heiman went on to say that the injections allowed him to better understand the infection, but never said how. Apart from his few published papers, Heiman never made any great scientific discoveries or medical advancements. Overall, his work was often left in studies and never fully developed into any real treatments or care. His patients were left with the repercussions of his studies.
Citations
Grodin, M. A., Glantz, L. H., & Dellinger, A. M. (1996). Children as research subjects: Science, ethics, and law. Journal of Health Politics Policy and Law, 21(1).
Heaton, Alex. Gonorrhea [Image]. ABC News.
Heiman, H., Buerger, L., & Aronsonhenry Heiman, E.,A. (1905). The Clinical, Bacteriological, And Metabolic Aspects Of A Case Of Traumatic Tetanus; Treatment With Tetanus Antitoxin; Recovery.1: I. Clinical Course And Treatment. Bibliography. Ii. Bacteriological Examination. Iii. A Contribution To The Metabolism In Tetanus. The American Journal of the Medical Sciences (1827-1924), 130(2), 267.
Heaton, Alex. Gonorrhea [Image]. ABC News.
Leung, Rebecca. “A Dark Chapter In Medical History”. CBS News, 11 February 2009.
Library of Congress. Children line up to be immunized in New York in the 1940s. In the postwar years, scientists competed to meet the urgent need for new vaccines [Image]. The Washington Post.