To Know Me Is to Exonerate Me: Appeals to Character in Defense of the Willowbrook Hepatitis Study.

This article examines the persistent defense of the Willowbrook Hepatitis Study, a widely criticized example of unethical medical research, through appeals to the ethical character—or ethos—of its lead researchers, notably Saul Krugman and Joan Giles. Defenders argued that critics lacked sufficient personal familiarity with the researchers and the institutional context to fairly judge the study's ethics, reflecting a mid-twentieth-century model of medical paternalism that centered ethical authority in the individual physician's character and judgment. The article traces how these character-based defenses functioned rhetorically to exclude dissenting voices, particularly those of younger doctors and non-medical critics, and how such appeals continue to influence contemporary bioethical debates by reinforcing paternalistic norms. It highlights the limitations of this approach, especially regarding issues of autonomy, justice, and equity in medical research ethics.