LAWSUIT: Iowa to pay out $925,000 to six who were orphans when used in ’30s experiment.
By David Pitt
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DES MOINES, Iowa – The state has agreed to pay $925,000 to unwitting subjects of an infamous 1930s stuttering experiment – orphans who were badgered and belittled as children by University of Iowa researchers trying to induce speech impediments.
Johnson County District Court Judge Denver Dillard issued an order approving the settlement Friday morning; it still must be ratified by the State Appeal Board, which next meets Sept. 4.
The six plaintiffs, who said the experiment left lifelong psychological and emotional scars, had originally sought $13.5 million.
“We believe this is a fair and appropriate settlement,” Attorney General Tom Miller said in a statement. “For the plaintiffs, we hope and believe it will help provide closure relating to experiences from long ago and to memories going back almost 70 years.”
He noted that the settlement provides a resolution for plaintiffs who are now in their 70s and 80s.
The 1939 experiment has come to be known as “The Monster Study” because of its methods and the theory researchers set out to prove – that stuttering is a learned behavior that can be induced in children.
Over a six-month period, Dr. Wendell Johnson, a nationally renowned pioneer in the field of speech pathology, and his staff tested his theory on 22 children who were in the care of the state-run Iowa Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home. Some were subjected to steady harassment, badgering and other negative therapy in an attempt to get them to stutter; the rest served as a control group.
According to the study, none became stutterers, but some became reluctant to speak or self-conscious about their speech.
Hazel Potter Dornbush, 84, of Clinton, who was 15 when she was chosen for the study, said she is relieved the case is settled. “I’m just glad it’s over,” she said. “How would you like to have them turn over all your past for the last 80 years?”
The university kept the experiment and its methods from the former subjects for decades. It was not until 2001 when the San Jose Mercury News published an investigative story about the study and its methods did the former subjects learn about the experiment’s true purpose. The newspaper based its story on statements made by Mary Tudor, one of Johnson’s former research assistants, who lived in California at the time the story was published.
