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The Trauma Victims and their Blood

Martha Milete’s life changes one night in 2006 when two masked men break into her house. She survives being shot, but that is only the beginning of her ordeal.

Humanity’s journey to understanding the body has been a gory one - littered with unethical experiments, unintended consequences and unimaginable endurance.

In The Human Subject, Dr Adam Rutherford and Dr Julia Shaw investigate the threads connecting modern day medicine to its often brutal origins.

This is the story of Martha Milete, whose life changes forever one night in 2006 when two masked men break into her house where she lives with her fiancé and two children. She unfortunately gets shot, but that is only the beginning of her ordeal.

The moment she is wheeled into the ambulance she is automatically enrolled in an experiment involving her blood. One she would only find out about years later when speaking with Dr Harriet Washington, a medical ethicist and author of several books, including Carte Blanche: The Erosion of Medical Consent.

Julia and Adam hear from Dr Washington who has followed Martha’s story closely.

Presenters: Dr Adam Rutherford and Dr Julia Shaw
Producers: Rufaro Faith Mazarura and Simona Rata
Assistant Producer: Mansi Vithlani
Executive Producer: Jo Meek
Sound Design: Craig Edmondson
Commissioner: Dan Clarke

An Audio Always production for ±«Óãtv Radio 4

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29 minutes

Last on

Sun 15 Sep 2024 23:00

Broadcast

  • Sun 15 Sep 2024 23:00

The Human Subjects Who Participated in History’s Darkest Medical Experiments

The Human Subjects Who Participated in History’s Darkest Medical Experiments

Dr Julia Shaw investigates some profoundly unethical experiments.

Podcast