Ethics Case Study: The Belmont Report

The experiment first began in 1932, in a small county within the Macon County of Alabama area. In this are rate of syphilis was up by 35%. Interestingly, the setting of the study was conducted at the Tuskegee Institute, which we know now to be Tuskegee University. The study conducted of 399 men, 201 out of the 399 were used as the control group. The control group contained of those who actually didn’t have the diseases. The study also targeted those who were poor and illiterate. A lot of those patients had the slightest clue to which they were being tested for, only being told they had “bad blood”. The doctors participating in the study thought it would be vital; to not inform

This essay examines the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, wherein for 40 years (1932-1972) hundreds of black men suffering from advanced syphilis were studied but not treated. The 40-year study was controversial for reasons related to ethical standards; primarily because researchers knowingly failed to treat patients appropriately after the 1940s validation of penicillin as an effective cure for the disease they were studying. To explore the role of the racism in the controversial study, this essay analyzes the article written by Allan M. Brandt.

They used these participants for study. This study lasted 40 years. In 1979, the Ethical Principles and Guidelines for the Protection of Human Subjects of Research were published (The Belmont Report). The Belmont Report proposed the following three basic principles for the evaluation of research involving human subjects:

The Tuskegee Syphilis experiment (The official name was Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male) began in the 1930’s. It was an experiment on African Americans to study syphilis and how it affected the body and killed its victims done by Tuskegee Institute U.S. Public Health Service researchers. The initial purpose of the Syphilis study “was to record the natural history of syphilis in Blacks” (Tuskegee University, “About the USPHS Syphilis Study,” par. 2). The study was necessary because syphilis was a disease that didn’t yet have an official cure (when the study began in the 30’s). There were 600 men in all; 399 had syphilis and 201 served as a control group for the experiment. The

In Macon County, Alabama, about 40% of African Americans had syphilis. Syphilis caused by a spirochete bacterium that is contracted sexually. In the 1930’s it had relatively no cures or treatments. Syphilis progresses into three stages, the last of which begins to attack the several organ systems of the individual. The victim may become paralyzed, blind and/or deaf; develop heart problems or a mental illness, or other symptoms (Gray 37-38). They decided that they wanted to compare and contrast how blacks and whites develop the disease and the effects on each race. Years before the study of the Negro was set to begin, a similar study for whites was conducted in Oslo, Norway. This study was a retrospective look into the effects of untreated syphilis in whites. The retrospective study used case histories of those who had syphilis when they died not living patients. The U.S. Public Health Service decided to use African Americans in Macon County in the experiment. Originally titled “The Effects of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male” the experimentations took place at the Tuskegee Institute which is why the study is generally named the Tuskegee Syphilis Study (Jones 93-94). The Rosenwald Fund, a foundation that funded many programs that were used in the betterment of African-Americans began funding this project. After the Stock Market crash of 1929, and the start of the Great Depression, the Rosenwald Fund has to withdraw all the funds that they

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 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.

According the to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment was conducted in 1932 by the Public Health, which included 600 black men as their test subjects. Of the 600 men, 399 had syphilis and 201 didn’t (CDC). The men were told that they were being treated for “Bad Blood” and didn’t have any knowledge of being included in a study (CDC). In exchange for their services, researchers offered the men free medical exams, burial insurance, and free meals (CDC). The study was called “ The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male” (CDC).

Starting in 1932 and lasting for 40 years, black men in Alabama were used as experiment subjects for syphilis. This was know as the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, which was conducted by the United States Public Health Service. These men were lead to believe that they were being treated for “bad blood” (CDC, 2016) instead of the sexually transmitted disease, syphilis. This experiment was conducted without the consent of the men and as a result of their participation, they were given free meals, medical exams and burial insurance (CDC, 2016). According to the the standards of the Institutional Review Board, the Tuskeegee Syphilis study would be deemed as unethical due to no consent from the subjects, withholding of information (risks/benefits) and

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.

In 1932, in the area surrounding Tuskegee, Macon County, Alabama, the United States Public Health Service (PHS) and the Rosenwald Foundation began a survey and small treatment program for African-Americans with syphilis. Within a few months, the deepening depression, the lack of funds from the foundation, and the large number of untreated cases provided the government’s researchers with what seemed to be an unprecedented opportunity to study a seemingly almost “natural” experimentation of latent syphilis in African-American men. What had begun as a “treatment” program thus was converted by the PHS researchers, under the imprimatur of the Surgeon General and with knowledge and consent of the President of Tuskegee Institute, the medical

The Belmont Report identified three principles essential to the ethical conduct of research with humans:

The first ethical principle stated by the Belmont Report is respect for persons. “Respect for persons incorporates at least two ethical convictions: first, that individuals should be treated as autonomous agents, and second, that persons with diminished autonomy are entitled to protection” (The Belmont Report). The researcher must respect the subjects decisions and be obliged to allow them to take part of the experiment voluntarily. The second

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study took place over a time period of almost fifty years. During the investigation, John Heller, Director of the Venereal Disease unit for the PHS was interviewed, one of his comments was; “The men’s status did not warrant ethical debate. They were subjects, not patients; clinical material not people” (Tuskegee University). The way these men were treated and looked upon and

The Tuskegee study connected and evaluated 339 African American Males with syphilis, and an additional 201 occupant’s disease free as the control group, all from the local community. All of the syphilitic men were in their second to late stages of the disease (Jones, 1993). At this time the understanding of the term syphilis was not well known. Medical personnel explained to the residents they had and were being treated for “bad blood,” another name for syphilis or aliments within the community. During this time period the causes and occurrences of syphilis were already known. The study was not aimed to cure or aid the individuals but to collect data on