Humanity’s journey to understanding the body has been a gory one - littered with unethical experiments, unintended consequences and unimaginable endurance.

In The Human Subject, Dr Adam Rutherford and Dr Julia Shaw investigate the threads connecting modern day medicine to its often brutal origins.

This is the story of Martha Milete, whose life changes forever one night in 2006 when two masked men break into her house where she lives with her fiancé and two children. She unfortunately gets shot, but that is only the beginning of her ordeal.

The moment she is wheeled into the ambulance she is automatically enrolled in an experiment involving her blood. One she would only find out about years later when speaking with Dr Harriet Washington, a medical ethicist and author of several books, including Carte Blanche: The Erosion of Medical Consent.

Julia and Adam hear from Dr Washington who has followed Martha’s story closely.

Presenters: Dr Adam Rutherford and Dr Julia Shaw Producers: Rufaro Faith Mazarura and Simona Rata Assistant Producer: Mansi Vithlani Executive Producer: Jo Meek Sound Design: Craig Edmondson Commissioner: Dan Clarke

An Audio Always production for BBC Radio 4

In The Human Subject, Dr Adam Rutherford and Dr Julia Shaw investigate the threads connecting modern day medicine to its often brutal origins.

This is the story of patient B-19, a 24-year old who, in 1970, walks into a hospital in Louisiana troubled by the fact that the drugs he’s been abusing for the past three years are no longer having the desired effect. He claims he is “bored by everything” and is no longer getting a “kick” out of sex.

To Dr Robert Heath’s intrigue, B-19 has “never in his life experienced heterosexual relationships of any kind”. Somewhere along the way, during the consultations, the conclusion is drawn that B-19 would be happier if he wasn’t gay. And so they set about a process that involves having lots of wires sticking out of his brain. Julia and Adam hear from science journalist and author, Lone Frank, author of The Pleasure Shock: The Rise of Deep Brain Stimulation and Its Forgotten Inventor.

Presenters: Dr Adam Rutherford and Dr Julia Shaw Producer: Simona Rata Assistant Producer: Mansi Vithlani Executive Producer: Jo Meek Sound Design: Craig Edmondson Commissioner: Dan Clarke

An Audio Always production for BBC Radio 4

In The Human Subject, Dr Adam Rutherford and Dr Julia Shaw tell the story of Andemariam Beyene, an engineering student from Eritrea studying in Iceland. In 2011 he was desperate for a cure to the large tumour discovered in his trachea. He had tried surgery and radiotherapy and nothing had worked.

Dr Paolo Macchiarini, Karolinska Institute's star surgeon presents himself as Andemarian's best and last option. He proposes an experimental treatment - but one that has never been done before on a human being. Andemariam would be the first. Unfortunately, he agrees to it.

Julia and Adam speak with Karl-Henrik Grinnemo, a professor in cardiothoracic surgery at Uppsala University Hospital in Sweden, who was at Karolinska Institute during Paolo Macchiarini's tenure.

Presenters: Dr Adam Rutherford and Dr Julia Shaw Producer: Simona Rata Assistant Producer: Mansi Vithlani Executive Producer: Jo Meek Sound Design: Craig Edmondson Commissioner: Dan Clarke

An Audio Always production for BBC Radio 4