Name: Medical Apartheid
ISBN: 9780385509930

Harriet A. Washington

The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present

Medical Apartheid

Jennifer

It took me forever to get through this book. Not because it was terrible, but quite the opposite. This book discusses disturbing, gross, deeply upsetting, and unethical parts of history that are (of course) overlooked by the textbooks today. This book should be <b>required reading</b> for all people, especially those in the medical field (medical students, current physicians, nurses, etc.). History is bound to repeat itself, and we will not know to do better unless we educate the people. The origins of procedures we take for granted now, like C-sections, vaccinations, x-rays, and bladder stone surgeries, are thanks to the involuntary contributions of slaves and other disadvantaged populations through time. <br /><br />I had to digest what was being said in this book. Every page was packed with so much information that I had to really think about and process. It took a while, but is definitely worth it.

Ron Butler

Flavia Louise

This book should be essential reading for medical researchers and personnel everywhere. 
The history told in here is equally horrifying as important. The author does a great job writing about the topic.

Sahi K

I’ll be honest, I don’t think I can write a review for this book because it’ll make me ragey all over again. This is a very difficult book to read not only because of all the racism, bigotry and unethical exploitation of Black people for medical experimentation, but also for us to reconcile with the fact that many progresses in treatments that have been made over the years have been possible because of this exploitation. And that can be a hard pill to swallow. 

But we all need to know this history upon which the world of medicine’s advances have been built on. I had only previously known about the Tuskegee Syphilis trials and a bit about how the birth control pill came to be, there are so many other things that have happened over the centuries that will horrify you. So while I don’t know what trigger warnings to mention for this book, just know that it’s worse than many bad things you can imagine but it’s important to be read and known by everyone.

Jennifer Gregory

A good overview of a far-reaching topic, but too many statistics went uncited, and too many facts touted as "well-known", to escape the need for further support.

Medical Apartheid The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present

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