For the Good of Mankind?: The Shameful History of Human Medical Experimentation
Vicki Oransky Wittenstein
For the Good of Mankind?: The Shameful History of Human Medical Experimentation
Vicki Oransky Wittenstein · 2025
Banned in 1 country
About this book
Experiment: A child is deliberately infected with the deadly smallpox disease without his parents' informed consent. Result: The world's first vaccine. Experiment: A slave woman is forced to undergo more than thirty operations without anesthesia. Result: The beginnings of modern gynecology. Incidents like these paved the way for crucial, lifesaving medical discoveries. But they also harmed and humiliated their test subjects. How do doctors balance the need to test new medicines and procedures with their ethical duty to protect the rights of humans? Take a journey through some of history's greatest medical advances—and its most horrifying medical atrocities—to discover how human suffering has gone hand in hand with medical advancement.
Censorship history
In 2025, "For the Good of Mankind?: The Shameful History of Human Medical Experimentation" by Vicki Oransky Wittenstein was banned at the school level in several districts across the United States, primarily due to concerns over its content related to violence and immorality. Notably, the book faced challenges during school board meetings in states such as Texas and Florida, where parents and local advocacy groups raised formal complaints regarding its appropriateness for students. As a result of these challenges, the book was officially removed from school libraries in multiple districts, with some bans still being contested by educators and free speech advocates.
Bans
| Country | Year | Reasons |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 2025 | ViolenceMoral |
