In 1987 a scandal erupted in New Zealand, following allegations that a doctor at National Women's Hospital had allowed some women to develop cervical cancer while conducting research into the disease. An official inquiry concluded that doctors had failed their patients. This book revisits that important episode in New Zealand's social and medical history, examining the factors which led to the Inquiry and whether it was correct in its assessment that patient welfare had been compromised in the interest of science. In addressing that question crucial aspects within the history of medicine and public health are explored - the use and interpretation of medical technology, randomized controlled trials, population screening, public understandings of science, the status of doctors in the late twentieth century, and doctor-patient relationships. This history of the interface of medicine with society in the second half of the twentieth century has relevance well beyond New Zealand.  .