Carte Blanche: The Erosion of Medical Consent

"Carte Blanche: The Erosion of Medical Consent" by Harriet A. Washington, published on February 23, 2021, is an urgent and essential exposé that delves into the alarming violation of the right to medical consent in America. Washington, acclaimed for her investigative prowess in "Medical Apartheid," unravels how trauma victims, predominantly people of color, have been subjected to nonconsensual medical research. This chilling narrative begins with the military's coercive use of an experimental anthrax vaccine in 1990 and traces the exploitation enabled by a 1996 legal loophole, allowing risky medical tests on unwitting civilians, including the deployment of the controversial blood substitute PolyHeme on over 20,000 non-consenting individuals. With each case study, Washington highlights not only the breaches in patient, civil, and human rights but also the deep-seated racial biases within medical research. This book is a critical read for those in adult education, urging a reevaluation of ethical standards in medical research and advocating for health equity and racial justice. Will we continue to allow history to repeat itself, or can we demand a system that respects all individuals' rights to consent?