Extreme Measures

What does this film, about nerve regeneration research, tell us about utilitarian thought and the role of consent in medical research using human subjects? Is the film too far-fetched? How does the history of WWII medical research help to answer that question? What sorts of rationalizations do we find in the U.S. Public Health Service Syphilis Study at Tuskegee (1932 to 1972) that have resonance with the arguments of doctors in this film? What lessons can be learned for medical research by comparing and contrasting this fictional story with these actual historical episodes?