Testing Limits: Preventing Past Mistakes from Becoming the Future

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study was an experiment on African American males and the effects of untreated syphilis. When the study began in 1932, the men were not fully aware of what the doctors were “treating” them with. They were wrongly informed that they were receiving treatments for “bad blood”. In reality, about 600 Alabama participants were infected with syphilis. Unfortunately, as these men were not aware of the virus they carried, they infected their loved ones as well. The men in this study were drawn in by the promise of medical benefits and more. As the study continued on, penicillin was found to be a cure for syphilis in 1947. However, it was withheld from these men and they continued to suffer unnecessarily. Finally, in 1972 the truth

Have you ever wondered where a doctor’s method came from? Or so much to even, think who came up with the original idea? America has an interesting medical history, or as I like to call them experiments. Some of those experiments were a positive asset to the history, but others were horrifying. One of those horrifying events would be Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. James H. Jones, the author of “Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment”, covered a book on the historical event. The study was for how the African American male is affected by untreated syphilis. But through the evolvement of the experiment, it became about the neurological aspect. It also depicts the American Government for its untrustworthiness in the health care world.

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.

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

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.

In the lawsuit “Guatemalans vs Johns Hopkins University” over 800 Guatemalans were deliberately infected with sexually transmitted diseases and then treated with penicillin in an experiment to see if this antibiotic would work in treating these diseases. Researchers from John Hopkins School of Medicine infected kids in an orphanage, prisoners and mental health patients without their knowledge with syphilis and gonorrhea. These experiments happened from 1945 to 1656 but were not discovered until 2010. In the article it talks about how the experiment was kept a secret and did not publish any findings on whether the penicillin worked or not, probably because it was unsuccessful. It also talked about how the Guatemalans that were infected and then treat were not given follow up care nor information on what they were infected with.

To deny that race played a role in the Tuskegee study is naive. All 600 subjects (399 experimantals and 201 controls) were Black. The officials in charge of the study failed to obtain informed consent from the subjects in a study of a disease

The doctors and the nurse were more interested in gathering scientific data than showing concern for these African men’s human rights. There was no concern for the ethical issues involving these victims. The syphilis scientific study was written about in medical journals for many years but community outrage did not happen until a reporter exposed the study to the general public. The scientific syphilis study ended after it was exposed to the public.

The key aspects of the study did give doctors and scientist an in-depth of view of how syphilis effects the body when untreated. On the other hand, the consequences is that other people, such as the wives, sexual partners, and unborn children were also infected with the disease and were unable to obtain proper treatment. Another consequence was uncovered racism in the medical community. This lead people to believe that the reason the experiment went on so long was because the subjects were all African- American men that wore poor, and some even unable to read. For African American community, the exposure of this unethical study continued to distrust in the government and laws. The study did contribute to major changes. For example, “public concern about lax protocols and potential harm motivated the U.S. government to reevaluate standards for federally supported studies involving human subjects. The changes made included requiring proof of informed consent by subjects and mandatory review of all proposed studies by groups called independent review boards. These new standards encourage ethical treatment of subjects, and help to make certain that people are aware of the potential benefits and risks of participation in research”

Several of these men died due to having syphilis and not being treated. “After the study ended, those men who had syphilis, along with their wives and children who had contracted the disease, were given free antibiotics and lifetime medical care” (Fain, 2017, p. 27). Forty years after the study was over, all survivors were offered penicillin and free medical treatment for life from the Public Health Service. The lawsuit that took place after the study, awarded $37,500 to each survivor and $15,000 to the heirs of “deceased survivors.” If this study would have been conducted today, it would have breached several provisions of the Nursing Code of Ethics.

During the study, patients were all given the same diagnosis "bad blood", and were given placebo treatment only (page 748). The study was extended past the original six-months and as a consequence, it did not end until 1972 even with the discovery of penicillin in the 1940s (page 750). Furthermore, patients were denied penicillin and instead were allowed to die from syphilis, all in the name of science (page 749). The Tuskegee Syphilis Study was clearly a horrible study and from it come many legacies, some bad and some good. From the Tuskegee study came the 1974 Belmont Report and established institutional review boards for human subjects (page 750). The medical industry has learned from the Tuskegee syphilis study how to not treat patients, and also updated safety procedures in order to prevent this amount of harm from happening

Despite having penicillin available which is the cure for Syphilis, the participants were purposely left untreated, therefore; allowing a curable disease to take its course for the selfish purposes of this study. This intentional act allowed the group of African-American sharecroppers from Macon County, Alabama to knowingly engage in sexual activity with women and they were also exposed to this disease. Which resulted in an entire sector of society being exposed to the Syphilis disease who were not given treatment as a result of the researchers and medical practitioners choice to not disclose information pertinent to their disease and choice to withhold treatment. The participants were never given a choice about continuing in the study once penicillin did become available and they were actually prevented from getting treatment. This in essence, also violated the rights of the participants; putting them in grave danger and at the same time exposed many of these participants even to

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 syphilis experiment was an experiment conducted by the U.S. Public Health Service between 1932 and 197. In this experiment, the investigators recruited 399 African American share croppers infected with syphilis. Their purpose was to study the effects of the untreated disease. In 1932 the standard treatments for syphilis were toxic and it was questionable whether or not they actually worked. The goal, at the experiment’s beginning, was to determine if a patient was better off without such toxic treatments. The experimenters also hoped to develop effective methods of treating each stage of syphilis. They also hoped to be able to justify treatment programs for blacks. However, by 1947 penicillin became the new and effective medical