Family Weekly October 8, 1961
Wax Phillips tossed restlessly on his cell bunk
in the Illinois State Penitentiary in Joliet
last winter. Unable to sleep, he fitted earphones
over bis blond, wavy hair and turned on the prison
radio. He caught the last strains of some music and
a prison "commercial."
"Inmates interested in participating in a medical
experiment in hepatitis report to the blood-donor
bank tomorrow." - '
Phillips didn't know what hepatitis was. He
didn't know that it is one of the few infectious dis
eases on the rise In this country; that more than
41,000 cases were reported last year; that an esti
mated 60,000 will be reported this year; that while
the vast majority recover from the inflammation
of the liver, some die and others suffer permanent
damage to the body's most important chemical fac
tory; that .until recently it was difficult to diag
nose because nobody was quite sure what viruses
cause hepatitis.
"Hear that announcement?" Phillips asked his
cell mate. "I'm going over there tomorrow just to
see what they got to say."
His cell mate gave the 22-year-old the sour look
of an older, wiser man. "Better ask the prison bar-
" ber about it, too. He shaved the guys that volun
teered for the first tests. Says they were a mess
yellow and always sick."
At first Phillips was only curious. Inmate George
Sanders' motive for attending the morning brief
ing session on the experiment was more positive.
"I have two kids on the outside," he said. "One
got real sick, and the doctors thought it was hepa
titis. Instead, it was polio. So I figure if the doctors
get to know more about hepatitis, they won't make
this mistake and maybe, like polio, they'll even find
something to keep kids from getting it"
No Special Promises to Volunteers
About SO inmates showed up in the oppressive,
hand-hewn brownstone hospital the next morning.
Like most, laconic Charlie Yeagley and intense
Benny Cotter were Interested because "human
guinea pigs" allegedly got a "good word" with the
parole board. Dr. Joseph Boggs, director of lab
oratories at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chi
cago and chief of the experiment, set the record
straight:
"I will write a letter to your parole board saying
you cooperated in a potentially dangerous medical
experiment The letter will say nothing else. It may
help you; it may not You'll get a nominal sum of
money, too $30 nothing to compare with the
danger and illness you'll face. So now's the time
. to get out if you expect anything more."
Most stayed including Phillips, Sanders, Yeag
ley, and Cotter. Then Dr. Boggs, a sandy-haired
41-year-old pathologist who talks softly but quick
ly, told the inmates what they could expect
Five years earlier, he said, researchers Wilton
Rightscll and I. W. MacLean had isolated virus
like agents from the blood of hepatitis victims.
They could only guess that the agents themselves
carried hepatitis. If they did, however, could these
agents be weakened by growth in tissue culture to
provide a vaccination making humans immune to
the disease?
The answers couldn't be learned from tests on
animals because they do not contract the disease.
Only humans could act as "guinea pigs" and in
mates of a model state prison, because of the ex
cellent controls and observation possible, would
make ideal volunteers.
Dr. Boggs proposed to inoculate some of the vol
unteers with distilled water (a control group) and
others with virus strains of varying strengths. If
theory was correct, those receiving heavy doses
would be hospitalized within 30 days, providing
added proof that the virus was of hepatitis nature.
Those with weakened strains would develop pro
tective antibodies in their blood without suffering
the illness. And if all these "ifs" proved correct,
Dr. Boggs and his associates would be well on the
way to a hepatitis-preventing vaccine. The doctor
pulled no punches about another "if if something"
unexpected turned up in the tests, the volunteers
might suffer prolonged aftereffects. He reminded
them, too, that hepatitis sometimes proves fatal
"You'll have a week to think this over," Dr.
Boggs concluded. "Then, if you volunteer, you'll
sign a contract releasing us and the state from any
liability. But," he added, "I can guarantee you the
best medical care possible. Nobody will leave the
hospital until he's completely well."
The following weekend, Will Phillips' girl friend
and guardian visited him. In the half-joking, half
serious manner that characterizes him, Phillips ex
plained his "big news." The girl and guardian ex
changed worried glances. "It doesn't seem wise
to me," the guardian said. "Don't let anybody fool
you about a parole. This is a dangerous thing, and
it could affect you for a long time."
Phillips shrugged and his voice took on a boy
ish quality. "Well, what about helping somebody?
They said it might help people, kids especially."
He looked at his girl friend. "You know about me.
Wouldn't you want me to do something that was
good like this?"
She didn't answer directly. "I want you free
some day free and healthy and without worry
ing about some disease coming back."
Nevertheless, a few days later Phillips and about
two dozen other inmates waited in the hospital to
sign contracts for the experiment "I'm bull
headed," Phillips explained to a fellow volunteer.
"I'm bored," the other replied frankly. "Any
thing to break the monotony."
A priest and notary public witnessed their sig
natures. Next, the volunteers would be taken into
the doctor's office and injected. "I don't know my
self who's getting what," Doctor Boggs told them,
"so don't keep asking me."
One by one, the inmates filed into the office.
Doctors took a half-pint of blood, then gave the
volunteers a hypodermic injection. "I hardly felt
it," Phillips said later. "After all the build-up, it
was kinda disappointing."
Next came the wait Who had the distilled water,
who the virus? Doctor Boggs had said that the
strains he had injected should take effect within
30 days or less. Phillips had the feeling other in
mates .were staring at him, looking for the telltale
signs of yellowing skin and eyes. Secretly, he
pressed his side to feel for inflammation of the
liver. Nothing.
But after three weeks, the first cases began ap
pearing. Benny Cotter felt the flush of fever while
in his cell one night He reacted as did most of
the volunteers who were to fall victim to the dis
ease: he tried to talk himself out of it "No," he
said, "this must be a hangover from the cold I had."
George Sanders, the most matter-of-fact of the
group, also tried to ignore the preliminary symp
toms, passing them off as "something I ate."
The young hospital barber, who had witnessed
and vividly described the illnesses of initial vol
unteers, had ironically volunteered himself. "I
figured I'd been around hospitals so long, I was
hardened," he said. "Then I came down with the
darn thing, and the idea of going to a hospital was
worse than the first sickness. I lazed around three
days, thinking I'd shake it Finally, I knew I had
to go on sick call."
In Charlie Yeagley 's case, doctors already had
discovered hepatitis in his weekly blood sample
before he admitted being sick.
"We Were
Human
Guinea Pigs"
A young doctor was on the threshold of a vaccine
for hepatitis, one of our fastest-spreading diseases,
hut only these convicts could prove his experiment
at danger to themselves
By JACK RYAN
4
family WMkly, October 1. IM1