“ETHICALLY IMPOSSIBLE” STD Research in Guatemala from 1946-1948 
Corps. 134 Dr. Mahoney 
was assigned to the Staten 
Island Marine Hospital and 
became director of VDRL 
in 1929. 135 
Dr. Van Slyke, a 1928 grad- 
uate of the University of 
Minnesota medical school, 
joined the VDRL at Staten 
Staten Island Marine Hospital From the National Library of Medicine 
Island in 1936, alter eight 
years of practicing general medicine. He served in Staten Island until August 
1944, when he moved to be the Assistant Chief of the PHS Venereal Disease 
Division in Washington, D.C. 
Dr. Mahoney submitted a formal proposal to OSRD/CMR in June 1943. 136 
Dr. Mahoney’s proposal indicates that OSRD and PHS split the costs of the 
experiments. 137 The budget requested for the first year of the experiment was 
$45,200, 138 which included salary support for one physician and two bacte- 
riologists in addition to “two medical officers and one bacteriologist to be 
assigned” from the PHS. 139 
Implementing the Experiments 
Work at Terre Haute began in September 1943 under Dr. Mahoney’s leader- 
ship in Staten Island, and his young associate, Dr. Cutler, at the prison. 140 
Dr. Cutler, age 28, was relatively new to PHS, having joined in 1942, the 
year after his graduation from Western Reserve University Medical School 
in Cleveland. 141 After serving a year as a medical officer with the U.S. Coast 
Guard, Dr. Cutler moved to the VDRL in Staten Island in early 1943. 142 Dr. 
Henrik Blum, another junior PHS officer assigned to the VDRL, went with 
Dr. Cutler to Terre Haute to help conduct the experiments. 143 
The investigators required that participants be at least 21 years old and 
provide “[ajssurance that the volunteer possessed a thorough understanding 
of the purpose underlying the study and the possible risks involved.” 144 At 
the conclusion of the experiments, participants received $100, a certificate of 
merit, and a letter of commendation to the parole board. 145 The documents 
do not indicate whether the prisoners were told ahead of time that they would 
20 
