“The panel felt strongly that it was wrong and a mistake that the United States was an outlier in not specifying any system for compensation for research subjects other than, 'You get a lawyer and sue.'”

—AMY GUTMANN, chair of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, which concluded on Tuesday its investigation into a series of federally funded experiments in the 1940s in which study volunteers in Guatemala were deliberately infected with sexually transmitted diseases without their consent. To address research-related injuries going forward, the commission recommended that the U.S. create a compensation system for those who are injured; many countries around the world and some U.S. research institutions already have such systems in place. [via The Washington Post]