I actually learned about this in bioethics class, its called the Tuskegee syphilis study. In the experiment, close to 400 African American men infected with
syphilis went untreated for four decades in a project the government called the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male, and this continued until 1972.
We should, for the most part, act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of another, always as an end and never as a means only. Because we all have goals and projects, we should never use people along the way in order to attain them. People are not objects to be used and disposed of. They have intrinsic value, dignity, and worth. They are rational beings and we must respect this rationality. This aspect of
deontology is particularly appropriate in considering the treatment of humans in the clinical testing of medical treatments i.e., are these people not being treated as a means to an end? Even though that end may result in the positive treatment of thousands of people in the future? As well, what about the contribution or even selling of organs (especially in third world countries) in order to create a better life for oneself and family? Are we not simply treating people as a means to an end by creating a demand for a particular commodity?
Luckily, the concept of informed consent has increased in importance since the historical events of the Doctors' Trial of the Nuremberg trials and Tuskegee Syphilis Study!
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