|
|
Posted by: art anderson (art_anderson@detrick.army.mil) on 3/20/1998@17:39hrs:
In Reply to: willowbrook state school and the new college campus posted by: Raina on 3/20/1998@17:05hrs:
According to an article in Reviews of Infectious Diseases 8:157-162, 1986, Willowbrook was planned in 1938 to be a facility for care of mentally retarded children. It was completed in 1942 and designated Willowbrook State School. However, before it could open for that purpose it was taken over by the War Department to be a US Army Medical facility called Halloran General Hospital (to honor the late Colonel Paul Stacey Halloran). After WWII there were efforts to convert it to a VA facility but it languished until October 1947 when patients from Wassaic State School and Letchworth Village were transferred as the first group of severely mentally retarded inmates. Hepatitis was common among these patients and between 1949 and 1953, during rapid increases in population Dr. Jack Hammond reported the consequences of overcrowding to the state legislature. In 1955 a research project commenced that has been regarded as the pivotal study defining the different kinds of hepatitis. That was the good part. The bad part was that the study was done without informing the subjects or getting the consent of their family members.
I keep articles about this because my knowledge of these human rights issues were common knowledge to me as a kid and I now serve as a Ethics officer responsible for protecting the rights and welfare of human volunteer subjects.
I am sure that most of the residential facilities where the ill retarded subjects were housed are no longer evident. As I recall, many of these were single story wooden "temporary' buildings similar to what you may find on old Army bases.
I am sure you did not expect this extensive a response, but the story must remain in the open.
Best regards.
Art