Medical Self-Experimentation 1929 – Risks and Discoveries

Physicians conducting medical experiments on themselves (Medical Self-Experimentation – MSE) have a long history. 

For example, acceptance of the bacterial cause of stomach ulcers owes much to the pioneering efforts of Australian researchers Robin Warren and Barry Marshall. In 1984, to help convince his skeptical colleagues, Marshall drank the contents of a Petri dish containing H. pylori bacteria and developed gastritis, inflammation of the stomach lining, five days later. Marshall thus helped pave the way for medical acceptance of the bacterial cause of stomach ulcers.

One of the most famous cases of MSE involved German physician Werner Forssmann. Forssmann hypothesized that a catheter could be inserted to deliver medicines and dyes to the heart for X-ray studies. However, he did not know whether this might kill someone. So, in 1929, he placed a cannula in his arm and passed a catheter through it until it reached his heart. Fortunately, Warren, Marshall, and Forssmann went on to win Nobel Prizes. 

Another example involves Dr. Walter Reed, who worked as a United States Army surgeon from 1900, and the physicians working under his supervision. Reed and his colleagues allowed mosquitoes to bite them to prove that yellow fever was carried by insects. However, one of the physicians died during the experiment.

Physician David L. J. Freed explains physicians' MSE as follows: 

"Why do we do it? Because we represent human nature better than a hundred laboratory rats; because we probably know more than anyone else in the world about the risks and possible benefits; because we are tired of bureaucratic delays; because we burn to know the answers; because we believe the potential benefits to humanity are great."

Description of the Article Image: From left to right: Walter Reed, Werner Forssmann, Barry Marshall, and Robin Warren

Historical Figures Mentioned in This Article: Walter Reed (1851–1902), Werner Theodor Otto Forssmann (1904–1979), John Robin Warren (b. 1937), Barry James Marshall (b. 1951)

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