Miss Evers Boys

They were not told the real purpose of the research being conducted or the factors which could place them in harm, or what the description of the illness was and what was truly being tested. The doctors and workers conducting the study were generally unconcerned with the welfare of the black men being used in the study.

The Tuskegee study was an experimental study composed of Doctors, Nurse, Government officials and the U.S Public Health Service. The study was performed to recognize

The men had to consequently suffer and deal with pus filled sores covering their body, including their mouths, just so the scientists could study the lasting effects of untreated syphilis. Suffering from syphilis was not what the men signed up for, and to them, there seemed to be no way out of the suffering. Even research by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), “Found nothing to show that subjects were ever given the choice of quitting the study.” Even though the men most likely felt trapped, they still had to go on with their everyday lives, which included their healthy significant others.

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study of 1932 studied approximately six hundred twenty-five “disadvantaged rural black men” (Pozgar, 2016) that both had syphilis and did not have syphilis. This study, named "Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male" (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013), was conducted by the Public Health Service from 1932 to 1972, however was only projected to last 6 months (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013). The purpose of the study was to show the effects of untreated syphilis. The men involved were led to believe that were receiving treatment for their various conditions but were actually not receiving treatment. The men participating in the study were not informed of the purpose of the study or what treatments they were receiving. The study concluded in 1972 and began many more years of investigation and hearings on behalf of the participants that suffered during the trials.

Study participants were told nothing of their infection with syphilis. Treatment was withheld from participants, and no satisfactory treatment given for satisfactory recovery to a few. Public Health System officials denied study participants treatment and prevented other medical professionals and agencies from supplying medication and treatment.

This paper will explore the ethical issues that are present throughout the movie Miss Evers Boys. The movie explores how the American Government used human experimentation to obtain research for an illness that was soon becoming an epidemic in the United States. The Tuskegee study began the year of 1932 and progressed for decades. Many ethical principles were violated throughout the study. Autonomy, the right to make decisions for one’s self was clearly violated. This is essential in being independent and being able to make informed, knowledgeable decisions about one’s health. The main ethical principle that was violated throughout the Tuskegee study was autonomy.

Just by reading the table of contents from the Belmont Report, one can point out different topics that are directly related to the Tuskegee Syphilis study. For example, regarding the ethical principles and guidelines for research involving human subjects, the Belmont Report discusses about the boundaries between research and practice. The Tuskegee Syphilis study promised free care to enroll people in the study, when in reality the research study was observing the natural progression of untreated syphilis in rural African-American men. The Belmont report describes that practice refers “to interventions that are designed solely to enhance the well-being of an individual patient or client and that have a reasonable expectation of success”1, it

The Tuskegee Experiments arose from a curiosity in the progression of syphilis is African-American men. In 1932, a study was set up, meant to observe the “consequence” of syphilis (Brandt, 2012). This was done despite the result of the Rosenwald Study in 1929. The Rosenwald Study found that mass treatment of the African-American population in Macon County, the site of the Tuskegee Experiments, was possible (Brandt, 2012). Six hundred African-American men participated in this study: 399 men with syphilis, serving as the test subjects; and 201 men without syphilis, serving as the controls. The experiment was meant to last only 6 months, but ended after 40 years when a story about the Tuskegee experiments was released to the public (CDC, 2015).

this situation were extreme because the scientists had no intention of curing these sick men. If the subjects are

The stir in the community led to an AD Hoc Advisory Panel to analyze the study (About us). Within this panel were nine members from medicine, law, religion, labor, education, health administration, and public affairs (CDC). According to Tuskegee University, the members of the panel found that the men had agreed to be studied and treated. However, with no evidence, the panel discovered that the researchers never properly informed the participants with all the facts required for proper consent. The men were never informed of nor given proper treatment when the cure was founded in 1947. Furthermore, the panel saw nothing indicating the participants were ever allowed to leave the study, even when the highly effective was discovered. After carefully reviewing the results, the panel had deemed the experiment “ethically unjustified” as of October 1972. One month later the Tuskegee experiment was over (About us). The study that was only supposed to last for 6 months, but it ended up lasting for 40 years

The male participants were not properly informed of the procedure or goal of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. Instead, they were pressured into participating in this specific study. In principal of medical-surgical nursing, it is taught that the patient must be completely aware what is to proceed in the procedure, the benefits they should obtain, and possible complications of the procedure. It is also vital that the patient understands this information, that way the patient can determine if they are comfortable with proceeding with the study or not. Although these African American men agreed in participation, it wad based on other ideas and premises. The patients were under the impression that they were getting treatment, and this was not a process

or fairness within the social, political, and economic perspectives. Equity forms the core value of both

The Tuskegee study was a traditional social science research with the use of intentional deception of the subjects, as means to deception to be biased to, as well as, morally wronging and harming people in favour of benefits of the knowledge gain in research. In particular, when the investigation betrayed a basic misunderstanding of the experiment’s purposes and design, as it was ethically and/or stereotypically unjustified. Moreover when the researchers regarded their subjects as less than humans, as to the nature of blacks, sex and disease (Syphilis), in order to carry out the experimentation. In light of deceptions and exploitations the experiment perpetrated, it also failed to obtain adequate treatment and well-informed consent from the

“The concept of fairness is closely related to a number of

In a society, all people have different capabilities as well as the resources they own. However, the distribution of these resources within the society is what is referred as distributive justice. It enables the less fortunate in the community to have a sense of belonging, and it also gives them a say in the society. Through distributive justice, people can peacefully coexist. Distributive justice is also viewed as a way in which things like rewards and costs are shared in a group of individuals depending on their capabilities. Nevertheless, distributive justice has different approaches depending on the situation and the norms of a group in the society. In this case, distributive justice can be applied to promote equity