Professional Medical Subjects

Among so-called “professional guinea pigs,” the long weeks in an inpatient clinical trial are part social experiment, part leasing out of bodies. Ethical concerns keep compensation relatively low, and long-term effects are by definition unknown. Take a peek into the world of The Effect.

22 Nights and 23 Days: Diary of #1J, Drug Study Subject,” is a first-person account of a woman’s in-patient experience on a clinical trial—the boredom, the regimen, the joys of a walk outdoors.

The Life of a Professional Guinea Pig: What it's like to earn a living as a research subject in clinical trials,” 2015 Atlantic article about a professional medical subject, based in Austin TX.

Guinea Pigging: Healthy human subjects for drug-safety trials are in demand. But is it a living?” by 2008 article by Carl Elliot in The New Yorker