The Tuskegee Alabama Syphilis Study

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.

* Justice - concerns the distribution of scarce health resources, and the decision of who gets what treatment (fairness and equality).

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.

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.

Cells that live and multiply forever were harvested and cultured from a black woman named Henrietta Lacks. Many people made a profit off of her cells, and she nor her family knew anything about it. “Black scientists and technicians, many of them women, used cells from a black woman to help save the lives of millions of Americans, most of them white. And they did so on the same campus- and at the very same time- that state officials were conducting the infamous Tuskegee syphilis studies” (Skloot 97). Many citizens are unaware of this dehumanizing act that lasted 40 years; the Tuskegee Syphilis Study has impacted society along with individuals related to the study for over 85 years. The study

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).

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

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

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

In order to observe the natural progression of syphilis, the U.S. Public Health Service began what is known as the Tuskegee Study in 1932. The study was held in Macon County, Alabama and there was a total of 600 African American men observed, 399 had latent syphilis and 201 served as an uninfected control group. At the start of the study, there was no cure for syphilis, only medicine available to treat symptoms; however, by 1947, there was a cure, penicillin, but it was never offered to any of the participants, nor were the participants aware that they were not being treated with available drugs. The study lasted for forty years, ending in 1972 and ultimately proving nothing, only once it was exposed by a researcher. In this paper, I am going

Tuskegee’s study of untreated syphilis is a notorious clinical study that was initiated in 1932 and ended in 1972. This study was initiated by the US Public Health Department and performed by the government physicians. The main purpose of this study was to assess the natural progression of the untreated syphilis. They included 399 men who had syphilis and 201 men who hadn’t have syphilis. Initially the study started to treat the syphilis, but even after there was no enough budget, they didn’t stop the study. The physicians had promised that the study participants were given free treatment of the syphilis but the fact was that the physicians and “US Public Health Department” were assessing the progression of the syphilis and not giving the treatment to the participants. Participants were unaware about this clinical research. In addition to this, participants were told about insurance, but they hadn’t been provided insurance.

In 1932 the United States Public Health Services, with the collaboration of physicians and medical personnel began the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment at the Tuskegee Institute in Macon County, Alabama. This occurred as the Rosenwald Fund for the study of syphilis in mass treatment withdrew its support for a syphilis control study; physicians then continued working with the patients without premises (Jones, 1993). The Tuskegee study then manifested and had no basis of searching for improved medication, improving health, or testing old forms of medication or treatment. In fact the point of the study was to collect data on the natural occurrences of untreated syphilis in African American males (Rubin & Babbie, 2013).

Tuskegee syphilis study started in 1932 with a good intention, scientists were trying to examine the abundance of syphilis within rural African Americans in the South in order to anticipate a mass treatment. When there was an economic downturn during Great depression, study was terminated although US public health service was in favor of continuing the study (Deria). The purpose of the following study did not have the same objective as the first. The intent of the second study was to determine whether African American population would be affected by syphilis just as much as White population. It also had an intention to discover how long a human can live without untreated syphilis (Ogungbure) The research took place in Macon city, Alabama where low class families were prevalent. Taking an advantage of uneducated, they disguised the word syphilis with “bad blood”. The study continued for 40 years with 400 men left untreated and 600 men was manipulated.

Syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease, infected four hundred poor black men. The Tuskegee Institute under the watch of the US Public Service conducted a study in which they unethically used these unknowledgeable men against their consent. The men were not informed that this disease was attacking their bodies, nor did they know that the researchers were with-holding treatment that was able to assist them from this deadly disease. This study lead to dozens of men dead, and many wives and children infected. At this time, researchers believed they were helping the larger society as the study was to determine what this disease does to the human body. This paper will discuss the case in more detail, what benefited and devastated society, how much freedom should be allowed in studies, and finally what regulations should be put in place in order for this devastating case to not repeat itself.