Tuskegee Study Violations

The John Hopkins Hospital was not the only place that violated people with color in this way. A study was done in Macon County, Alabama with black male patients who had syphilis. This study was designed to find out a history

In Tuskegee, Alabama a group of men were chosen for an experiment involving the observation of how syphilis occurs in black men and its long term non-treated consequences. At the time of the experiment, the only treatment that was available was a heavy metal therapy; however, the scientists believed it was doing more harm than good. Therefore, they did not inform the men about the treatment and distracted them with basic incentives like hot meals and transportation. When penicillin, a cure for syphilis, was discovered the doctors made the decision to shield the cure away from the men. This is proof that scientists are

Nature.com stated that the number of scientific output (or the number of scientific papers that researchers publish) double every nine years (Nature.com). This may not seem like a lot, but there are thousands upon thousands of researchers that are constantly producing new content. With the amount of research scientists are producing, it is necessary to remind scientists (and future scientists) that we cannot go back to the times when Henrietta was alive, nor should we repeat horrible studies such as the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, where 600 men were experimented on in exchange for burial insurance and food (CDC). The Tuskegee Study lasted for 40 years, and even after penicillin was discovered, the men were not given any treatment (CDC). Experiments just like this one could still happen today, but with books like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, people can see what happens to the people in the experiment.

In the context of medical research, informed consent provides individuals with the opportunity to accept or decline involvement in research, and thereby adheres to their right to choose. Obtaining consent from donors is not limited to simply seeking permission, but involves explaining the nature and consequences of research in an honest and understandable manner. When this aspect of informed consent is ignored, unethical research ensues. For example, during the infamous Tuskegee Syphilis Experiments, US Public Health researchers studied the progression of syphilis in African American men, under the false pretense of curing their “bad blood”. Though a treatment of penicillin was available at the time, researchers idly observed as subjects died painful, preventable deaths.

Misunderstanding regarding the details of the Tuskegee syphilis study is common, but the historical accuracy is not as relevant as the strength of the beliefs that formed as a result of the study7. Gamble (1997) argues that roots of the fear of medical exploitation dates further back in history when, the bodies of Black people in Baltimore were taken from their graves for dissection in the 1830s,three female slaves were subjected to an estimated 30 gynecological surgeries each in Alabama in the late 1840s, and folklore describing night riders who kidnapped Black people for use in medical experiments in

Around the 1900s, doctors’ experimentation on their patients that involved their consent had raised little concern. Between 1920 and 1930, Syphilis was a crucial health problem. Healthcare was offered to people who earned low incomes in the South. African Americans were normally low-income citizens in the South and they were not perceived equal to whites. They were prone to have more health problems.

Syphilis Syphilis is an acute disease that was not perfectly understood until scientists start to do clinical researches over patients having the disease and the bacteria themselves. Experiments were done on syphilis to understand how it proceeds, and how it can be cured. After the discovery of this affliction, doctors tried very hard to understand the disease, so they did various experiments. some of them were legal while others were illegal. In 1932, The Tuskegee syphilis experiment was done on black people in Alabama by U.S public health service.

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.

The Belmont Report was written to protect human subjects in research studies. This report led to the creation of the Institutional Review Board Guidebook, which was last updated in 1993 (IRB Guidebook, 1993). Protection for human subjects began with the Nuremberg Code when judging the human experimentation done by the Nazis (IRB Guidebook, 1993). Other studies had been conducted using human subjects that led to the Belmont Report. One such unethical study is Johnson’s Monster Study that was conducted in 1939 on a group of orphans (Reynolds, 2003) that violated the Institutional Review Board guidelines, and should not be repeated.

In the movie “Miss Evers Boys”, Nurse Eunice Evers takes an offer to work with two doctors on a program that was federally funded to treat patients afflicted with the syphilis disease in Tuskegee Alabama. The patients were only men and they agreed to take part in it because of the free treatment. After a while the program ended and money was offered to conduct an experiment. The experiment was the study of the effects of the syphilis disease on these men, specifically African Americans, whom didn’t receive treatment. Nurse Evers finds out from doctor Brodus that the four hundred plus men along with 200 uninfected men who served as controls, will be studied and not treated.

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.

Once the issues of human experimentation without consent, and often even with no defined outcome goal got a taste of the spotlight, the conditions under which medicine would be practiced started to change for the better (Rothman, 1991). The decisions made by the physicians began to improve and become monitored, and everything was becoming much more professional and official (Rothman, 1991). Physicians started to understand the terrible positions and conditions to which they had submitted the black slaves and the Jewish

It has now been a quarter of a century, and yet the images and heartache that still evolve when the words "Tuskegee Syphilis Study" are brought up, still haunts people around the world and touches upon many professionals such as social workers, medical examiners, and so forth. Sometimes people hear about this disgusting human experiment in a highly visible way directed to the entire country as an example of what we as a country and people, in general, should not do. This occurred when the study first made national news in 1972, when President Clinton offered a formal apology, or when Hollywood actors star in a fictionalized television movie of the story. On the other hand the audience may become fainter: kept alive only by memories and stories told in the African American community, in queries that circulate over the world wide web and radio talk shows, or even in courses such as this one being taught by social workers, historians, sociologists, or bioethicists. This is neither the first nor the last unethical human experiment done under the human study for the medical purposes umbrella, basically stating it is ok to sacrifice a few people in the name of medical research.

In addressing respect for human dignity, the Belmont Report (1979) incorporates two ethical convictions: first, “individuals should be treated as autonomous agents, and second, that persons with diminished autonomy are entitled to protection.” (p. 5). Perry was a vulnerable population, incarcerated, and stripped of any autonomy. In addressing justice, an injustice occurred as there was no benefit to Perry in the “sense of ‘fairness in distribution” or “what is deserved’” (Belmont Report, 1979, p. 7).

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