Case Study Untreated Syphilis

This video was a little disturbing to watch. As I watched the video, I thought about being a part of the African American population. I wonder if my father resides in Macon County in 1932, and wanted to be a part of this experiment to help with his family, he could have been exposed to the disease. Therefore, one or all three of his daughters could have been born with Congenital Syphilis. However, in the research it was not my father, but at least 200 others “Negro” males were targeted to be lab rats for the cause. They were mostly free of this disease, but encountered the disease and passed it on to their families.

When conducting an independent research project of any form, one must take into consideration ethical and bias issues. Throughout my research I will be keeping in mind the ethical and bias considerations. Also, to avoid any dilemmas I have made it an option on my questionaries for the participant to put

According to the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research 2007, the assessment of risk-benefit ratio and consent from the participants are two important concerns of conducting any human research. These two issues help the participants to make an informed decision so that they can understand and outweigh the significance and possibilities of harm independently (Emanuel, 2008). Being a researcher, I would follow the National Statement on Ethical Conduct In Human Research 2007, hence, I must assess the magnitude of possible harm (physical, psychological, social, economic or legal) for the participants and handling the risk by identifying resources and monitoring them, thus, reducing the risk of their occurrence. (National statement on ethical conduct in human research,

Part I: The legal considerations would be to inform the participants that there would be no harm or risk to the participants. Since the participants are adolescents the researcher needs to obtain a secure informed consent from the parent or guardian before they participate. The researcher’s ethics are to provide full disclosure to the participants. The researcher should be open and honest to the participants regarding the study. The researcher’s ethical consideration is to protect the privacy of each participant. This can be accomplished by ensuring confidentiality and by having the data stored securely. Also, the researcher should

Respect for human dignity includes two rights; the right to self-determination and the right to full disclosure. When conducting a research study these two rights must be maintained to ensure that the participants are not coerced into participation and that they are making the choice of their own free will. Patients must be provided with all the information necessary to make an informed decision and voluntarily participate. No deception or concealed data collection can be done because it will violate the patients’ rights.

The study took place in Macon County, Alabama where a large number of African Americans were infected with syphilis. Although the study was aimed at discovering whether blacks react to syphilis in the same way as whites, and determine how long a human being can live with untreated syphilis. Due to the African Americans having lack of education, they suffered tremendously at the hands of doctors from the US Public Health Service. When the study was initiated there were no proven treatments for the disease. So the researchers told African American patients they were being treated for “bad blood.” The treatments for syphilis in the early 1930’s offered more potential harm than benefit for the patient so little harm was done by not treating the men in the study.

Anthropology is a word derived from the Greek words anthropos and logia. The word anthropos means human, and the word logia, in basic terms, means the study of. Therefore an anthropologist is a person who studies humans. Anthropologists study humans to gain and spread knowledge for the greater good of humanity, so we as a people can understand one another. To study anthropology as an anthropologist involves extensive research. Furthermore, to gather any credible research a person must follow a set guideline, especially when using and gathering research from another person. This guideline is in place to protect one's personal freedom because many cases involving human research have been unethical, unmoral, and unjust.

From a sociological perspective, I do not think that hypothesis, “The rate of progression of Syphilis may differ by race when comparing African American males to Whites” is valid as is. Race is a social construct, however the experiences that which we go through because of race is very real. That leads me to believe the hypothesis could be valuable if it were framed differently. Because of environmental factors, cultural factors, and health disparites, certain races may be at risk for a particular disease than others. I feel that maybe if the hypothesis would have been framed as “The rate of progression of Syphilis may differ by race when comparing African American males who have (certain health problem) to Whites males who have (certain health problem)” it could have been valid. However, these men would have had to receive the same exact treatments and likely be from the same SES.

The reaction toward this video was shocking however educational. I still have a hard time to believe that America once lived in such dark era. Thinking of what happen to these human beings just blows me away. How naive these men were in Tuskegee Alabama syphilis study African American men and their families never said anything or question anything. How these top white men Raymond and John, VD directors of public health violated some many people’s rights and had no regards to people of this so called “bad blood” infection in the 1930’s. However, David Spencer was just plain evil he still stands his ground as that it best to not tell those men what they were doing because it would upset them, he is full ignorance till this day. I don’t know what

With the changing tides of how Americans view the common household, same-sex relationships have begun to become more widely accepted nationwide. Same-sex marriages and LGBT adoption are now legal in all 50 states. These recent steps in legislation have been monumental for civil rights, but what effect do they have on the physical public health of the gay population? From history, it is known that the spread of disease has been higher in “immoral” sexual practices; for example, in the 1930s, some hospitals refused admission of patients with STDs and private physicians did not wish to treat these patients due to the supposed “transmission” of the disease (Eng, 1997). Sexuality and the opinion of sexual behaviors can vary by socioeconomic status,

A good epidemiological investigator takes several steps to conduct an outbreak investigation. The first step is to discuss the disease with someone knowledgeable about the disease, ask about similar outbreaks, what has been the source, how has it been transmitted, and who is at risk of contracting the disease ( Principles of Epidemiology in Public Health Practice,2016) . It’s also important to include state and federal departments in the investigation the staff in these agencies can have more information in the outbreak. Once this is complete a hypothesis can be created. In the syphilis outbreak case a large group of young people have been diagnosed with syphilis these groups of people have interacted sexually on a regular basis. Anyone in

Early modern Europe was no stranger to maladies and disease. Sickness and pain were not an uncommon sight amongst all of Europe’s social strata. However, the end of the fifteenth century would see a particularly unpleasant infection. This disease, although referred to by a variety of names throughout its history, is now known by the term syphilis. Although its exact origins are not known, the first recorded case of syphilis appeared in 1495 in Naples. The disease likely found its way to the city through the mercenary soldiers of Charles VIII.

I enjoyed reading your post on the case of the Syphilis outbreak. You did a great job of putting all the pieces together. You determined the frequency, and you created a pattern to determine the time, place, and those who were those infected. I agree with you that there potentially could be a large group of teens who could have interacted with those infected that have not yet been diagnosed. A good epidemiologist would gather all information necessary to determine how many could potentially be infected: “Epidemiologists typically revolve around gathering medical and health information from the field, researching data, analyzing the data collected, and presenting the findings” (Epidemiology Careers, n.d). You used all this information

Tony, I agree this video was an eye-opening experience. It stirred a lot of emotions within me, I was angry, yet heartbroken. I will never understand how our government could do this experiment on these men, knowing they were committing murder. It was very disturbing to me when Jean mentioned in the video that “medical doctors wanted them to die from what they could discover from their bodies later.” I agree that autonomy, nonmaleficence, veracity, justice and fidelity were all ethical principles that were violated during this experiment. What frustrates me the most is Penicillin was discovered as a cure for syphilis, yet they did not use the antibiotic for treatment during this 40-year experiment. I believe the least they could have done for

Conducting a study using humans as participants raises a variety of ethical concerns. This is why it is necessary to inform the participants of the purpose of the interview or focus group and what it plans to accomplish. Also, the privacy of each participant must be respected when publishing or distributing all research findings. If these requirements are not met, the study being conducted will in turn become unethical.