Case Study Syphilis

For over forty years a study conducted on 600 African American at the Tuskegee Institute in Macon County, Alabama, examined the outcome of syphilis in African Americans. These participants were uneducated and destitute, so when they were offered anything free, they did not see the harm. Of the group of 600 men, 399 who had syphilis were a part of the experimental group, and 201 were control subjects. (About Us, (n.d.)) What is the ethical dilemma in this study of syphilis? The researchers picked illiterate subjects who did not understand they had not agreed to informed consent. All subjects should be informed of the dangers of syphilis such as it can lead to a variety of painful, long-lasting and fatal symptoms, such as infection in the nerve-system, or heart difficulties. To examine the individual risk and lethal development of the disease, the researchers deprived

Values such as these do not give answers as to how to handle a particular situation, but provide a useful structure for understanding conflicts. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study violated several of these guidelines in order to continue their research. In the past and especially today this study was an unacceptable form of research that lead to the inhumane treatment of many men. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study was extremely unethical and should have been put to a stop much earlier in the process. When the study began there may not have been specific guidelines as to how to conduct a study, but after the

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

In todays society, the common consensus about human experimentation is that it is unethical, however, people in the past believed it was necessary to advance scientific discoveries. The Tuskegee syphilis study is a prime example of how scientists in the past disregarded the ethics of human experimentation to enhance scientific research. The study was an experiment where four- hundred to six-hundred uneducated African American men were tricked into being tested. Most of the patients were injected with the disease and left without treatment to discover its effects, while the others were safe being used as controls. This experiment lasted for Forty years and was probably the biggest example of unethical human experimentation in America. Fortunatley, the contrivertial actions taken in the experiment lead future generations to create the law of informed consent where the patient understands what will happen during their treatment. The inspiration for researching this topic was how in “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”, by Rebecca Skloot, Henrietta was used for a scientific study without her consent. In relation to Henrietta, the men in the syphilis study were not aware of what was happening to them and were experimented on without their consent. Overall, the human experimentation in the Tuskegee syphilis study was unethical in many ways.

The Tuskegee syphilis experiment was an infamous clinical study conducted between 1932-1972 in Macon Country, Alabama by the U.S Public Health Service. The purpose was to study the natural progression of untreated syphilis in rural African American men who thought they were receiving free health care from the U.S government; about four hundred African American men were denied. The doctors that were involved in this study had a shifted mindset; they were called “racist monsters”; “for the most part, doctors and civil servants simply did their jobs. Some merely followed orders, others worked for the glory of science” (Heller) The men that were used for the study got advantage of, especially those

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

Tuskegee – The doctors violated this principle by not informing the study subjects of the details of the study itself. The subjects were informed they were going to be treated for “bad blood” (CDC, 2015). At the time “bad blood” could have meant syphilis or it could have meant anemia or fatigue. None of the patients received treatment to cure their illness. Additionally, none were ever informed that they were in fact part of a study to document how syphilis progresses when left untreated. These were autonomous men who had vital information withheld from them while being subjects in a research study.

The Tuskegee syphilis study highlighted the effects of untreated syphilis in African American males by withholding syphilis treatment that was available to these men. In addition, Tuskegee syphilis study demonstrated how the participants’ rights were taken for granted or even minimized in order to obtain information on how the human body was affected by untreated syphilis. This study allows one to view how the ethical rights were violated and allows for guidelines to be established preventing future occurrence.

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.

After the emancipation of Black slaves, the practice of exploiting Black people for medical experimentation continued. One such instance of this is the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiments of 1932; which is often cited as a pivotal point that entrenched Black people’s distrust of medical institution (Gamble, 1997). During the Tuskegee study, Black American male patients were subjected to experiments to ascertain the proper treatment for syphilis, by U.S. government-funded medical professionals (Rusert, 2009). From this study, penicillin emerged as an effective treatment for syphilis, but this treatment was withheld from many Black American patients, and many were falsely informed that they suffered from “bad blood” rather than syphilis (Rusert, 2009). This resulted in many unwitting patients dying from complications related to the disease, and infecting others.

In the chapter ‘Under the Shadow of Tuskegee: African Americans and Health Care”, focuses on the relationship between African American and medical community due to The Tuskegee Syphilis Study. Even though the original study was projected to last only 6 months, the study actually last about 40 years. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study took place from 1932 to 1972. Researchers informed the 699 men infected men and 201 uninfected that they were doing testing on “bad blood” (LaVEIST, 2002), a term used to describe illnesses such as anemia, syphilis, and fatigue. The men were promised free meal, burial insurance, and free

The research article written by Columbia University professor, Allan M. Brandt gives elaborated explanations that pertain to the development, data, recordings, and conclusions of the controversially famed, Tuskegee Syphilis Study. During the early to mid 1900’s, medical treatment options for common illnesses today, such as syphilis, were for the most part, unsuccessful. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study served as an experiment that was aimed to aid the production of a Syphilis cure. The purpose of this experiment was to extend the knowledge of scientists and doctors throughout the country about the development of syphilis in colored people. The U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) aspired to condone a treatment program designed specifically for

During the forty year Tuskegee Study, the government overstepped its duties and infringed on innocent African American lives. Researchers in Macon County, Alabama started this study in 1932 in order to examine the effects of untreated syphilis in African American men. The study began with 399 subjects with the disease and 201 without it; by the time the research was halted in 1972, over one hundred of the men had died (Jones 2). One government organization involved in this experimentation acted particularly irrationally: the Center for Disease Control (CDC). The CDC knew

The book, Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, by James H. Jones, was one of the most influential books in today’s society. The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment study began in 1932 and was terminated in 1972. This book reflects the history of African Americans in the mistrust of the health care system. According to Colin A. Palmer, “James H. Jones disturbing, but enlightening Bad Blood details an appalling instance of scientific deception. This dispassionate book discusses the Tuskegee experiment, when a group of physicians used poor black men as the subjects in a study of the effects of untreated syphilis on the human body”(1982, p. 229). In addition, the author mentioned several indications of discrimination, prejudice, and stereotype toward this population. Also, this book provides multiple incidents of the maltreatment of human beings. The reader is able to identify the incompetence of the helping professions and violation of human rights, ethical issues, and dehumanize African Americans.

Violating the principles of beneficence and/or nonmaleficence makes a medical study unethical because those principles are a part of the four core principles of bioethics, which are to be used as moral guidelines in assessing what one’s duties are to a patient in a particular situation. The principle of beneficence refers to rendering appropriate aid whenever possible. This principle is ethically fundamental for physicians since it determines their professional and moral obligations to their patients and grounds compassion. To violate this principle means to cross the line of therapeutic experiments into nontherapeutic experiments, which shifts the intent of serving and helping the patient to serving oneself. By not offering treatment to those infected with syphilis or informing them of available treatment, the Tuskegee Study clearly violated the