Medical experiments (c. 1945 - c. 1970)

From

c. 1945

To

c. 1970

Categories

Event

Summary

During the twentieth century, babies and children in Victorian orphanages and Homes were used as subjects for medical experiments. Reports from the Senate Inquiry into Children in Institutional Care contained details of studies carried out by the Walter and Eliza Hill Institute and the Commonwealth Serum Laboratory (CSL) between 1945 and 1970. One reason given for the use of children in institutions in medical trials was that this group of children was particularly vulnerable to epidemics. Journalists at the Age newspaper investigated these experiments in 1997. A report written by the Department of Human Services in November 1997 considered the issue of who had given consent for these children's participation in the medical trials. The report found that 'it is likely that the research institutes gained consent to conduct the research from staff responsible for the institutions and possibly in one case, from a Departmental employee'.

Related Organisations

• Bethany Babies' Home (1928 - 1977)

  CSL conducted trials at Bethany Babies' Home

  Date: 1959 - 1961

• The Foundling Hospital and Infants' Home (1906 - 1964)

  CSL conducted trials at the Foundling Hospital and Infants' Home

  Date: 1959 - 1961

• Methodist Babies' Home (1929 - c. 1974)

  CSL conducted trials at Methodist Babies' Home

  Date: 1959 - 1961

• St Gabriel's Babies' Home (1935 - 1974)

  The Age newspaper reported in 1997 on medical experiments conducted on babies at St Gabriel's in the 1950s.

• St Joseph's Foundling Hospital (1901 - 1975)

  Medical experiments were conducted on babies and children at St Joseph's from the mid 1940s to the early 1960s.

  Date: c. 1945 - 1961

• Turana (1955 - 1993)

  CSL conducted trials at Turana.

  Date: 1959 - 1961

^{_{(Source : http://www.findandconnect.gov.au/vic/biogs/E000503b.htm)}}

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