Raabia Qureshi

Mrs. Henry
ELA/Reading 1/5
19 September 2016
Decisions, Decisions
To find treatments for illnesses and disabilities, scientific experiments are conducted, using
humans and animals as test subjects. During the process, the subjects could be harmed or
benefited. The use of humans is unethical because the results are not guaranteed, and could cause
many disadvantages. Despite the drawbacks, the experiment could be considered a success or
benefit to society, in the means of promoting further research. Although this may be true, failure
of the experiment could lead to emotional side effects for the person being experimented on. In
the story Flowers for Algernon, Charlie faced depression after learning his experiment results.
Its hard to throw away thoughts of suicide (Keyes 80). Unsuccessful results could place a
person in depression, or even change their outlook on life. In addition, most medical experiments
today are under unnecessary development. Many of the drugs under development today,
however, offer little clinical benefit beyond those available from existing treatments (Human
Experimentation: An Intro to the Ethical Issues 1). Most medicines being tested through
experiments are rather just developed to create variation of an already existing medicine. In this
case, humans risking their lives through experiments is, again, unethical and unnecessary.
Furthermore, after going through an experiment, people can be seen differently through other

peoples eyes. Charlie was treated differently by the people closest to him, including Dr. Nemur.
Sometimes, when I try to talk to him, he just looks at me strangely and turns away (Keyes 74).
When someone goes through a medical process, they usually come out with a change; something
different about them. This can lead to different perspectives from people who are not used to
change, bringing out the judgmental side of them.
Ultimately, using humans in medical experiments is not humane, considering the results are
not on ice. Issues that could occur include emotional reactions and mistreatment. In addition,
most experiments are unnecessary and are a way to create copies of existing medical treatments.
Humans are not a toy, and do not deserve to be continuously experimented on, putting their life
at risk.

Qureshi 3

Works Cited

Human Experimentation: An Introduction to the Ethical Issues. The Physicians Committee.

N.p., 22 June 2015. Web. 19 Sept. 2016.
Keyes, Daniel. Flowers for Algernon. Common Core Literature, Pearson. 2015, pp. 52-86.