GUATEMALA EXPERIMENTS 1946-1948 
II 
Psychiatric Hospital, Dr. Arnold wrote to Dr. Cutler that he was “a bit, in fact 
more than a bit, leary [sic] of the experiment with the insane people” as they 
“cannot give consent” and “do not know what is going on...” 457 Dr. Arnold 
appeared primarily concerned about exposure to criticism, because if “some 
goody organization got wind of the work, they would raise a lot of smoke.” 458 
He continued that: 
“I think the soldiers would be best or the prisoners for they can give 
consent. Maybe I’m too conservative. A lot depends on the medical 
officer and the reaction of the supt. of the ins. hosp. [sic] Also how 
many knew what was going on [sic]. I realize that a [subject] or a 
dozen could be infected, develop the disease and be cured before 
anything could be suspected. The penicillin could be a Rx [treat- 
ment] for the insanity, your first study could be done in a short time 
and none would be the wiser. In the report, I see no reason to say 
where the work was done and the type of volunteer. You know the 
setup best, but be sure that all angles have been covered.” 459 
Writing in 1955 in his Final 
Syphilis Report, Dr. Cutler cast 
the choice to move to the Psychi- 
atric Hospital as a reaction to 
problems in the Penitentiary, 
particularly the prisoners’ objec- 
tions to the blood draws that were 
critical to assessing infection. 460 
“As work in the penitentiary 
grew less attractive,” he wrote, 
the researchers “shifted [their] 
major activity to the asylum.”^ 61 The syphilitic rash of a 22-year-old female psychiatric subject 
, . who was exposed to syphilis twice and received some treatment. 
However, the Iirst intentional From the National Archives and Records Administration 
exposure experiments in the Psychiatric Hospital occurred only three days 
after the first intentional exposure experiment in the Penitentiary (May 10 
and 13, respectively). 462 And, the Penitentiary work continued for almost a 
year and a half after the work in the Psychiatric Hospital began. A total of 
446 psychiatric patients were involved in the intentional syphilis exposure 
experiments, 294 of whom received some form of treatment. 463 
57 
