The Tuskegee Study In Medicine

Breach of Ethics Provisions in the Tuskegee study shown in the movie, Miss Evers’ Boys]

The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment is the forty year well known research study performed by the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) to follow but not treat African American men with late stage and presumably non-infectious syphilis, while promising them that the aspirins, tonics and diagnostic spinal taps were treatment. The Study was basically known as “Untreated Syphilis in the Male Negro”. The four hundred assumed syphilis infected African men were matched against 200 uninfected African men who served as the control group. These men were encouraged to participate in the study under false promises of free treatments, free meals, funeral insurances, and free healthcare. These African men were enrolled without giving a signed informed

Have you ever wondered where a doctor’s method came from? Or so much to even, think who came up with the original idea? America has an interesting medical history, or as I like to call them experiments. Some of those experiments were a positive asset to the history, but others were horrifying. One of those horrifying events would be Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. James H. Jones, the author of “Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment”, covered a book on the historical event. The study was for how the African American male is affected by untreated syphilis. But through the evolvement of the experiment, it became about the neurological aspect. It also depicts the American Government for its untrustworthiness in the health care world.

Research the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. Why was it unethical? What influence has it had on the conduct of subsequent clinical trials? How are we seeing the effects of this study today? In 1932 600 African American men became the subjects of an extremely unethical experiment called the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. The experiment involved 399 men infected with syphilis and 201 that were not (control group) (“Tuskegee Timeline”).

The key aspects of the study did give doctors and scientist an in-depth of view of how syphilis effects the body when untreated. On the other hand, the consequences is that other people, such as the wives, sexual partners, and unborn children were also infected with the disease and were unable to obtain proper treatment. Another consequence was uncovered racism in the medical community. This lead people to believe that the reason the experiment went on so long was because the subjects were all African- American men that wore poor, and some even unable to read. For African American community, the exposure of this unethical study continued to distrust in the government and laws. The study did contribute to major changes. For example, “public concern about lax protocols and potential harm motivated the U.S. government to reevaluate standards for federally supported studies involving human subjects. The changes made included requiring proof of informed consent by subjects and mandatory review of all proposed studies by groups called independent review boards. These new standards encourage ethical treatment of subjects, and help to make certain that people are aware of the potential benefits and risks of participation in research”

500). The Tuskegee Study violated the ethical principle of beneficence because what would have been best for the patient would have been to give them the proper treatments to have their condition slow down. This would have further allowed the participants to receive the penicillin treatment because their hearts would have been able to handle the treatment. In the movie, we saw how them men were on lists which prevented them from receiving the penicillin at other clinics. This was violating beneficence because all the heath care workers that these men encountered did not care for what was best for them and their diseased

deceived the subjects to believe that the Tuskegee study would avail their health, when in fact the study was

The book BAD BLOOD: THE TUSKEGEE SYPHILIS EXPERIMENT by James H. Jones was a very powerful compilation of years of astounding research, numerous interviews, and some very interesting positions on the ethical and moral issues associated with the study of human beings under the Public Health Service (PHS). "The Tuskegee study had nothing to do with treatment … it was a nontherapeutic experiment, aimed at compiling data on the effects of the spontaneous evolution of syphilis in black males" (Jones pg. 2). Jones is very opinionated throughout the book; however, he carefully documents the foundation of those opinions with quotes from letters and medical journals.

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study was the experiment conducted by US public health service among 600 black men to study about the disease named syphilis from 1932 to 1972 (CDC,2016).The participants were poor rural African-American living in Macon County ,Alabama. The study was done to find out the effects of untreated syphilis on those men. The participants were introduced the disease with the name -Bad Blood by the researchers(Jones,p.5). The researchers ran the experiment for over 40 years. During this period, the participants were kept unknown about the causes and treatment of the syphilis .The treatment of syphilis was found but the researchers did not apply on the participants(Tuskegee,2016). The Tuskegee Syphilis Study was unethical and

In conclusion The Tuskegee Syphilis study had left individuals in the science field with unkind memories of how doctors neglected the oath they took to save lives, how the government also neglected their oath because of the color of someone’s skin and the value assigned to their lives in the name of science. For forty years they continued to experiment with human lives as a mere means to an end. The Tuskegee Study was inhumane, horrendous and broke so many basic ethical principles but the most important consequences. The study has forced the medical/science field to construct several scientific codes that no medical/ science individuals or company should ever break. These codes which came from several ethical principles were derived are also

In 1970, after the press wrote a story about the Tuskegee Experiment, there was public outcry, which caused the Assistant Secretary for Health and Scientific

“He who knows syphilis, knows medicine” famed early twentieth-century John Hopkins physician Sir William Osler is often quoted as saying (Reverby). The Tuskegee syphilis experiment is one of the worst cases in human history of unethical practices done. Between 1932 and 1972 the U.S. Public Health Service study the natural progression of untreated syphilis in rural African American men in Macon County, Alabama. These men were told that they were receiving free health care from the U.S. government because they had “Bad Blood”. A local term for various illnesses that include syphilis, anemia, and fatigue. The study had six hundred patients in which three hundred and ninety-nine of them previously had the STD. Two hundred and one did not have it at the

The Tuskegee Experiment, is one of the most well known blunders of United States medical research in the 20th century. Not only was it entirely unethical and inhumane, but it also highlighted the problems of racism and inequality in the medical world and the entire country at that time. By examining and reviewing the history, consequences, racism, results, and conclusion of the Tuskegee Experiment, it can perhaps shed some light on the barbaric events that transpired throughout the research.

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study was an unethical prospective study based on the differences between white and black males that began in the 1930’s. This study involved the mistreatment of black males and their families in an experimental study of the effects of untreated syphilis. With very little knowledge of the study or the disease by participants, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study can be seen as one of the worst forms of injustices in the United States history. Even though one could argue that the study was originally intended to be for good use, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study was immoral and racist because only poor, uneducated black males were used in experiment, the participants were not properly informed of their participation in the

The issues that were involved in the violation of the ethical principles involving human subjects include racism, paternalism, informed consent, truth telling, scientism, and whistle blowing. There were other issues that were involved in this study: double standards, maleficence, and the use of deception in research among others. The issue of racism was seen clearly in this study. Four hundred black persons were infected and two hundred served as a control group. Caucasians were not enrolled in this study. This was a violation of justice because the subjects were not treated