Until the 1990s, the “dispatching” of children to convalescent homes and sanatoriums was a mass phenomenon in the FRG. It is probable that several million people were affected. Numerous reports by those affected feature accounts of degrading treatment, violence and medical “immobilization.” Until recently, hardly anything was known about this in public. Historical research on this topic has only just begun. Doctors of the time demanded a multi-week stay at a health resort for every child living in a large city. Children with specific diseases such as tuberculosis or asthma were “dispatched” for a longer period of time. Children suffering from homesickness were given psychotropic drugs for sedation. Children with physical illnesses were not only treated with appropriate drugs, but drugs were also tested on them under certain circumstances. Some children died during these tests. For one trial, there is evidence that the parents had not given their consent. There are some parallels to drug trials on children in care homes in the FRG. The article provides an overview of what we know today and raises some questions about the economic and (health) policy background of this mass phenomenon.