Episode Details

Between 1946 and 1948, American researchers secretly conducted one of the darkest medical experiments in modern history. Working with Guatemalan officials, they deliberately exposed prisoners, soldiers, psychiatric patients, and other vulnerable people to syphilis, gonorrhea, and chancroid, often without informed consent. Many participants were never treated, and the project remained hidden for more than six decades.

In this episode of You Can't Unhear, we investigate the Guatemala Syphilis Experiments, the role of Dr. John Charles Cutler, the shocking ethical failures that allowed the project to happen, how the scandal was uncovered by historian Susan Reverby in 2010, and why this forgotten chapter became one of the greatest violations of medical ethics in American history.