Iowa; not just corn anymore

[Cuppa-LettuceNog]

Huh. I was just glancing at the front page of Yahoo, and I noticed this nice little tidbit;

DES MOINES, Iowa - The state has agreed to pay $925,000 to unwitting subjects of an infamous 1930s stuttering experiment - orphans who were badgered and belittled as children by University of Iowa researchers trying to induce speech impediments.

Johnson County District Court Judge Denver Dillard issued an order approving the settlement Friday morning; it still must be ratified by the State Appeal Board, which next meets Sept. 4.

The six plaintiffs, who said the experiment left lifelong psychological and emotional scars, had originally sought $13.5 million.

"We believe this is a fair and appropriate settlement," Attorney General Tom Miller said in a statement. "For the plaintiffs, we hope and believe it will help provide closure relating to experiences from long ago and to memories going back almost 70 years."

He said it was a prudent outcome for the state because of the high costs of litigation and the difficulty of finding witnesses to events so long ago. He noted that the settlement provides a resolution for plaintiffs who are now in their 70s and 80s.

The 1939 experiment has come to be known as "The Monster Study" because of its methods and the theory researchers set out to prove - that stuttering is a learned behavior that can be induced in children.

Over a six-month period, Dr. Wendell Johnson, a nationally renowned pioneer in the field of speech pathology, and his staff tested his theory on 22 children who were in the care of the state-run Iowa Soldiers' Orphans' Home. Some were subjected to steady harassment, badgering and other negative therapy in an attempt to get them to stutter; the rest served as a control group.

According to the study, none became stutterers, but some became reluctant to speak or self-conscious about their speech.

Hazel Potter Dornbush, 84, of Clinton, who was 15 when she was chosen for the study, said she is relieved the case is settled.

"It was awful stressful all these years. I'm just glad it's over," she said. "How would you like to have them turn over all your past for the last 80 years?"

Dornbush said she recalls 22 children being taken from the state-run Iowa Soldiers' Orphans' Home to be used in the research. She said many of the children were told they stuttered even if they didn't, and the researchers said they were there to help them stop.

"I call that brainwashing. I don't care what anybody else calls it, that's my language. I was wise to it right away, but I cooperated. You know we weren't in no position to argue with nobody. We had nobody to lean on to help us out."

The university kept the experiment and its methods from the former subjects for decades. It was not until 2001 when the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News published an investigative story about the study and its methods did the former subjects learn about the experiment's true purpose. The newspaper based its story on statements made by Mary Tudor, one of Johnson's former research assistants, who lived in California at the time the story was published.

The university apologized for the experiment in 2001; the plaintiffs sued in 2003.

The settlement pays $900,000 to five of the plaintiffs, Dornbush, Kathryn Meacham, the Betty Romp estate, the Clarence Fifer estate and the Phillip Spieker estate. The state also will pay $25,000 to the sixth plaintiff, Mary Nixon.
(This version CORRECTS date of appeal board meeting to Sept. 4).)

So, let me get this straight; little children have their lives ruined when their parents gave their lives for their country. In response, the people getting paid hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of dollars to care for them decide to lease them off to a horrific science expirement where they're horrid lives are made worse by constantly being insulted and berated all in an attempt to psychologically damage them. I mean, at least with the Nazi's the horrible mental destruction their expirements caused were just a side-effect; in this study, the point of tormenting the children was the psychological study. I'm surprised that when the kids DIDN'T stutter they weren't deemed "useless" and thrown in a gas chamber.

As the old saying goes, "if they weren't dead, I'd kill them myself".

[Korriken]

hmm. I was tormented for years going through school for being the fat kid, I wonder if I could sue the school system... it was awfully stressful to be picked on and bullied. I bet I could get about $50,000 out of it. OF course they would just kill my case by bringing up that I carried out plots of revenge on those that bullied me, including pissing in a bottle and pouring it over the stall on their heads.... good times.

[IllustriousPotentate]

At 8/17/07 10:37 PM, Korriken wrote: hmm. I was tormented for years going through school for being the fat kid, I wonder if I could sue the school system... it was awfully stressful to be picked on and bullied. I bet I could get about $50,000 out of it. OF course they would just kill my case by bringing up that I carried out plots of revenge on those that bullied me, including pissing in a bottle and pouring it over the stall on their heads.... good times.

There's a big difference between childhood teasing and bullying and a government agency taking orphans out of a foster home and conducting psychological experiments on them without their knowledge. To even attempt to link the two together is intellectually bankrupt.

[fli]

At 8/17/07 10:37 PM, Korriken wrote: hmm. I was tormented for years going through school for being the fat kid, I wonder if I could sue the school system... it was awfully stressful to be picked on and bullied. I bet I could get about $50,000 out of it. OF course they would just kill my case by bringing up that I carried out plots of revenge on those that bullied me, including pissing in a bottle and pouring it over the stall on their heads.... good times.

*eye rollie*
Seriously.... human experimentation > school taunting.

How is that not obvious to you?

[Cuppa-LettuceNog]

At 8/17/07 10:37 PM, Korriken wrote: hmm. I was tormented for years going through school for being the fat kid, I wonder if I could sue the school system... it was awfully stressful to be picked on and bullied. I bet I could get about $50,000 out of it. OF course they would just kill my case by bringing up that I carried out plots of revenge on those that bullied me, including pissing in a bottle and pouring it over the stall on their heads.... good times.

Man, that sucks. The school, waiting until you're parents died so that you were most vunerable, begain systematically tormenting you, teasing and taunting you for years and years and years in a sick effort to see how psychologically damaged you would come out, then kept in quiet for 70 years, causing you un-fixable mental issues for they rest of your life?

Bummer.

[Korriken]

perhaps I should remember to use /sarcasm next time.

[Memorize]

People need to grow up.

[Cuppa-LettuceNog]

At 8/18/07 04:09 PM, Korriken wrote: perhaps I should remember to use /sarcasm next time.

We all noticed the sarcasm. The issue is that it seems like you were implying, via sarcasm, that the people didn't have it that bad.

[Cuppa-LettuceNog]

At 8/18/07 04:20 PM, Memorize wrote: People need to grow up.

Well, apparently they're quite old.