Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: MKUltra

  • Louis Jolyon West, M.D.: A dangerous doctor

    Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential.”– The Nuremburg Code, Section on Permissible Human Experiments (1946)1 Louis J. West, M.D. (1924–1999), was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a poor immigrant family. He enlisted in the US Army during World War Two, was sent to medical school at the…

  • The Montreal Experiments: Brainwashing and the ethics of psychiatric experimentation

    Shaan BhambraMontreal, Canada “We do not merely destroy our enemies; we change them.”1– George Orwell, 1984 In the aftermath of World War II, the race to become the dominant world power motivated both the United States and the USSR to strive for influence, power, and military strength. In the mid-twentieth century, the brewing Cold War…