Estate of Arturo Giron Alvarez et al v. The John Hopkins University et al

Filing 480

MEMORANDUM OPINION. Signed by Judge Theodore D. Chuang on 4/18/2022. (ybs, Deputy Clerk)

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again advised Dr. Mahoney that they should strictly limit knowledge ofthe details of their work.
Specifically, he stated that "it is imperative that the least possible be known and said about this
project, for a few words to the wrong person here, or even at home, might wreck it or parts ofit."
J.R. 400. He further stated that the "four ofus in our project have carefully discussed the matter
and all feel that we should do all possible to keep knowledge of our project restricted," id., a
group which Dr. Paul Lombardo, Senior Advisor to the Presidential Commission, believed to
include Dr. Cutler; Dr. Mahoney; Dr. John Heller, the Chiefofthe PHS Venereal Disease Division,
who had visited Guatemala; and possibly Dr. Spoto, but not the Johns Hopkins Professors.
Accordingly, Dr. Cutler advised that he would send his "detailed reports and discussions of our
work directly to you and not through any other person," and that in complying with the PASB's
requirement for monthly reports, his team would "continue to send the barest summaries of our
progress." J.R. 400. Dr. Cutler also noted that "[i]it is unfortunate that we have to work in such
a guarded, even subterranean way, but it seems to be very necessary." Id In reply to Dr.
Cutler's proposal to send his detailed reports solely to Dr. Mahoney, Dr. Mahoney stated that
he was working to "restrict our own conversations and those ofothers bearing upon the matter"
and stated that he had begun "forwarding all of[Cutler's] reports to Doctor Heller in a way
which we hope will prevent their being read by unauthorized persons." J.R. 395. Dr. Mahoney
further stated that he hoped Dr. Cutler "will not hesitate to stop the experimental work in the
event of there being an undue amount of interest in that phase of the study" as it "would be
preferable to delay the work than to risk the development of an antagonistic atmosphere." Id
The secrecy appeared to extend throughout the Guatemala Experiments. On April 19,
1948, Dr. Arnold wrote to Dr. Cutler that he was "more than a bit ... leary [sic] ofthe experiment
with the insane people" because "[t]hey can not give consent, do not know what is going on, and

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undertaken an extensive experimental study in human volunteers in Guatemala with results which
I am not at liberty to quote but which indicate that even under normal conditions of exposure, there
is striking variability in the attack rate." J.R. 1914. Dr. Moore stated that he was seeking "to enlist
the interest of competent investigators" to continue to research this issue, and that he had identified
Dr. C. Phillip Miller, a Professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago, as someone interested
in such work for whom "it would be desirable ... to have as much first-hand information as
possible concerning previous studies" on this issue such as the Guatemala Experiments. J.R. 1915.
He therefore requested that Dr. Miller be appointed as a consultant to the Surgeon General in order
to allow him to travel to Guatemala for up to two weeks to "familiarize himself with the U.S.
Public Health Service Project." J.R. 1915. While Plaintiffs correctly note that this statement may
support the conclusion that certain non-public results of the Guatemala Experiments had been
shared with Dr. Moore, the conclusion that it also reflects that Dr. Moore was aware of the
nonconsensual nature of the experiments does not follow, particularly where· Dr. Moore
specifically described the Guatemala Experiments as using "human volunteers" and referenced
only results that related to_ "normal conditions of exposure," a term that was elsewhere used to
refer to transmission through sexual contact. J.R. 1914. Even if this letter could be construed as
evidence of Dr. Moore's knowledge that the Experiments included nonconsensual human
medical experiments, it post-dates both the SSS's initial 1946 recommendation of funding
and 1947 recommendation of renewed funding and thus cannot support a finding that those
actions were taken with the requisite purpose of facilitating nonconsensual human medical
experimentation.
Although Plaintiffs have characterized this letter as showing that Dr.Moore was "push[ing]
support for the Experiments," Pis.' Mot. Summ. J. at 48, it cannot be fairly characterized as
substantial assistance to the Guatemala Experiments. In the letter, Dr. Moore's request that Dr.
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