Skid Row Cancer Study

The Skid Row Cancer Study was a study conducted by urologist Perry Hudson on the homeless men of the Bowery, in Lower Manhattan.

In the 1950s-1960s, more than 1,200 homeless men from Lower Manhattan were persuaded with promises of food and shelter to have their prostates biopsied by Dr. Perry Hudson. They were not informed of possible side effects, i.e., rectal tearing and impotence. The homeless were targeted for these biopsies because they were painful and untested, and less vulnerable populations would not volunteer.