In November 2021, St. Raphael Caritas Alten- und Behindertenhilfe (CAB), the current operator of the Maria Grünewald facility, published documentation on the reappraisal of the thalidomide study at the former sanatorium in Wittlich. The study with the sedative and sleeping pill had been carried out in 1959 and 1960 in the sanatorium.

The effect of thalidomide was tested at the sanatorium on a total of 302 children between the ages of two and 14 who were suffering from tuberculosis. The drug was intended to support the "immobilization of the patient" during the recumbency cure, which was still considered a central component of tuberculosis treatment at the time. However, thalidomide was also administered to children for homesickness and to help them maintain a good night's rest. The results of the study were published in a medical journal in late 1960.

The documentation (german version) also contains a statement (p. 85 ff.) by the medical historian Dr. David Freis (University of Augsburg), who places the study in its historical context.