Currently, people of color are more likely to be paid participants in phase I of a clinical trial which is the initial safety test for a drug or medical device. The participation of Phase I participants is often driven by financial incentives. White people are most likely to be the participants in phase III of a clinical trial which tests the effectiveness of a drug or medical device. Phase III participation is often driven by volunteering because of medical needs.

How the Predatory Nature of Medical Research Studies Continues

By bringing together the experiences of Vietnam War Veterans and Byers the article "V.A. Hospital Pays For Human Guinea Pigs: Performs Psychosurgery on Black Oakland Youth" brings attention to how when tied with oppressive systems for example classism and racism there can be coercive or abusive practices of medical research and experimentation among veterans.

University of Wisconsin - Madison

It is noteworthy that the V.A. hospital was recruiting explicitly veterans for the spinal tap procedure because as opposed to veterans of other wars, in the 1970s the majority of the veterans of the Vietnam War were unemployed which made them targets of V.A. exploitation. 

Exploitation of Vietnam War Veterans

The Article connects the advertisement run in the San Francisco Chronicle and the story of Lou Byers by noting that both raised alarm about practices at the V.A. hospitals.

Discussion of Ad in the San Francisco Chronicle and Lou Byers

Schalk, Sami. Black Disability Politics, New York, USA: Duke University Press, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781478027003

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