Syphilis Case Study

This experiment, conducted by the U.S. Public Health Service, was intent to study the natural progression of syphilis in African American male population. The study participants voluntarily participated in the study but the researchers did not properly inform the participants on the availability of treatment or the risks of the disease if untreated. To make the matter worse, the participants were deliberately led to believe that they were receiving treatment from the Public Health Service for free, while the actual treatment was being withheld to achieve the purpose of the research. In today’s point of view, it is surprising that even the federal agency did not respect the dignity of human rights for the sake of research. In Henrietta’s era, even the federal agency did not follow the proper informed consent procedure, and a prestigious institution like John’s Hopkins did not have any regulations or office such as Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) to govern their research protocols to protect human subjects and their rights.

The Tuskegee experimental study, which was carried out for a total of forty years from 1932 to 1972, remains one of the biggest and indeed one of the most disgusting scandals in the history of American medicine. More than 400 black men died in Alabama as public officials and doctors watched (Brandt, 1978). The Tuskegee scandal was a scientific experiment which was done using unethical ways and methods that in the end did not result in the production of new information on syphilis. The cure of the subjects who participated in the study was withheld without their knowledge, and consequently, many people died while others were left with permanent disabilities. Newborns were not spared either, and many of them were infected with congenital syphilis.

The final stage, also known as "late" syphilis, begins 3 or more years after infection. About 40 percent of the infected progress to this stage. At this stage, the person may no longer be contagious, but the bacteria have multiplied and spread throughout the body, damaging the majority of the major organs and nerves within the body. A few years before the Tuskegee Experiment, there was another syphilis experiment that was conducted on the white population to see the long-term effects as well, but because of many people's views syphilis affected African Americans differently than Whites; the theory was that syphilis affected are different in every way, especially their blood, which led researchers to focus on African Americans to see if the disease affected blacks differently than whites. For over 40 years, this experiment was had infected over dozens of African American men had gone untreated, those who were used for the experiment were told that they had ‘bad blood’, and were also not informed of the true nature of the experiment.

The men were told that they were ill and promised free care. Offered therapy on a golden platter, they became willing subjects”.(Ogunburg) One of the main ethical issues that was raised in this film and through this study was that the participants were not informed that they had syphilis and what syphilis was. “Deceiving people is unethical” (Babbes, Rubin, 2011, pg. 83) and throughout the study, the participants were being treated unethically because the researchers and the doctors deceived the men into thinking syphilis was treatable and not as serious as it really was by minimizing the impact syphilis had on their bodies. Due to lack of education and economic status the participants in this study were easy to influence.

In this case, the question of this experiment was, “Does the prevalence of syphilis have the same effect on African American and whites?” Syphilis was said to be a “black” disease. In order to see if this question was true, a special type of person was needed, “the poor African American male”. The men who were chosen to participate in this experiment were very poor, had little to no education, worked on cotton fields, and had become accustom to their living conditions such as racism and lack of health care, and made it their lifestyle. Fred Grey (1998, p. 36) stated “I am sure that only a handful of the 600 participants… had ever been treated by a physician.

Evidence based practice has not only shown us what leads to an increase or decrease in STD but it has also

The Tuskegee study of Untreated Syphilis began in 1932, mainly designed to determine the history of untreated latent syphilis on 600 African American men in Tuskegee, Alabama. 201 out of 600 men were non-syphilitic just unknowingly involved in the study as a control group This study is known to be “the most infamous biomedical research study in the U.S history”. Most of these men had never visited a doctor and they had no idea what illness they had. All of the men agreed to be a participant thinking they were being treated for “bad blood” and plus they were given free medical care and meals.

For 40 years, many African Americans in Alabama that were infected with syphilis were left untreated as part of an experiment to determine how “different” syphilis affected blacks. This was an orchestrated even by the United States Public Health Service, and other organizations; whose job is to protect the public. Syphilis is a highly contagious infection spread by sexual contact. If untreated, it can cause bone and dental deformations, deafness, blindness, heart disease and deterioration of the central nervous system. The participants, mostly made of poor, uneducated black men, were lured into the program with false pretenses, not advising of the infections they carried (Heller).

The Tuskegee syphilis experiment was an infamous that study the natural progression of untreated syphilis through African American men. These people were told that if they participate in this experiment they would receive free health care from the U.S. government. Around 400 men or 399 exact had syphilis while the remaining 200 didn’t have the disease, a total of 600 men were enrolled in the study. However, later on those who was infected wasn’t told that they had it, neither was he treated with penicillin which later on became the treatment. Due to this reason many of the men that participated in this experimented passed away due to syphilis.

The outcome of the groups is that the syphilitic group and the untreated group were affected the most due to fatal deaths. However, the control group was not affected by the disease (Jones,

They were not told about their diagnosis or given appropriate treatment, even after penicillin became widely available as an effective cure for syphilis. In our textbook, Health Care Ethics: Critical Issues for the 21st Century,

The study would ultimately prove that everyone, no matter the color of their skin, is equal when it comes to the disease of syphilis. The intention behind manipulating the men was not for the greater good of society, but instead was for the greater good of Dr. Brodus and Miss Evers. Although the actions of Dr. Brodus and Miss Evers prove to be unethical, I also find the actions to be unprofessional. Miss Evers should have informed the men of the severity of the disease, as well as how the disease is passed from one individual to another. They failed to inform their patients of many of the risks that came along with the disease.

This study was referred to as the “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis

In Latin America countries like Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela, about one million are admitted annually in hospital due to incomplete abortion. As a result, this causes problems in the reproductive system. Worldwide, forty two million abortions are estimated to take place annually with twenty million unsafe abortions, five million health problems and seventy thousand maternal deaths. Also, what about pregnancy resulting from rape or incest?

Abortion and childbirth complications have been the leading causes of maternal deaths the world over. With the advent of the 21st century, maternal deaths have declined. This has been attributed to education on family planning as well as the use of contraceptives. Abortion is caused by a myriad of factors among them