Medicine: The Wrong Bottle

In a laboratory of the University of South Dakota at Vermillion last week, young (28) Dr. Louis F. Michalak blacked the foreheads of two human guinea pigs with India ink to make the skin more heat-absorbent. The doctor tested their "pain threshold" with the heat from a 1,000-watt lamp. After taking their normal readings, Dr. Michalek reached for a pain-killing drug to inject. He meant to give them Demerol (safe dose: 100 milligrams). Then he would repeat the test on a third volunteer and himself, using methadon (safe dose: 10 milligrams). More pain...

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