The Tuskegee Syphilis Study And The Stanford Prison Experiment

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 demographics that were affected the most were black Americans in the South that were exposed to unsanitary conditions in Macon County, Alabama. For instance, many were chronically unemployed or unpaid, lived in unbearable conditions in shacks, malnutrition, and had severe health diseases, which include tuberculosis, syphilis, hookworm, pellagra, and high death rate (Jones, 1992). “Syphilis is a highly contagious disease caused by the Treponema pallidum, a

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 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

Is human experimentation appropriate? Should people be given the right to informed consent if the research could result in possible harm? Is human experimentation in light of the Tuskegee study justified? These are just some of the questions that arose during the presentation of the film Deadly Deception. This film featured the government sponsored Tuskegee experiment and documents this forty year study of untreated syphilis in the black males of Macon County, Alabama. This review will examine the film Deadly Deception in light of the appropriateness of human experimentation and the right for informed consent as well as the different ethical and moral views that may arise as a response to what occurred.

Today there are many more laws and steps to take in order to conduct a study with human subjects and the Tuskegee Syphilis Study would never be approved in today's society due to the many violations to human rights that this study would incur. The study would still violate the Henderson Act as well as the Declaration of Helsinki and in addition would violate several other newly developed guidelines. The National Organization for Human Services has created a set of standards that human service workers should abide by. A human service worker has a responsibility to treat their clients with respect and dignity as well as looking out for their safety (NOHS, 2005). A human service worker has an obligation to avoid any type of treatment or experiment that would put the client in harm's way.

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).

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 (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 todays society, the common consensus about human experimentation is that it is unethical, however, people in the past believed it was necessary to advance scientific discoveries. The Tuskegee syphilis study is a prime example of how scientists in the past disregarded the ethics of human experimentation to enhance scientific research. The study was an experiment where four- hundred to six-hundred uneducated African American men were tricked into being tested. Most of the patients were injected with the disease and left without treatment to discover its effects, while the others were safe being used as controls. This experiment lasted for Forty years and was probably the biggest example of unethical human experimentation in America. Fortunatley, the contrivertial actions taken in the experiment lead future generations to create the law of informed consent where the patient understands what will happen during their treatment. The inspiration for researching this topic was how in “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”, by Rebecca Skloot, Henrietta was used for a scientific study without her consent. In relation to Henrietta, the men in the syphilis study were not aware of what was happening to them and were experimented on without their consent. Overall, the human experimentation in the Tuskegee syphilis study was unethical in many ways.

Another ethical issue was confidentiality and privacy, there was personal information disclosed to third parties without consent from the patients in the study, and according to the movie (1997) one treatment was given in groups and the patients performed the treatments on each other. The third ethical issue was the principle of beneficence (goodness), which according to Guraya, London, & Guraya (2014) this principle relates to individuals not being intentionally harmed and the outcomes should be the best possible result. In the Tuskegee study the opposite happened, the physicians and nurse knew they would not treat the men with the best medical care possible, and when treatment options were available they would not provide that treatment to the participants. The study would only come to an end, when all participants had passed away. The next ethical issue was the lack of respect, where each participant should have remained as independent individual. The Tuskegee study was not looking at the participants in the study as individuals, but as a group of poor African American males.

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

Part A. The CITI Ethics Training spoke of both: Laud Humphreys, Tearoom Trade and the infamous Tuskegee Study. The Video, The Human Behavior Experiments, reported on the Milgram study on obedience and the Zimbardo Prison Experiment. Using one of these four studies as an example, explain how the study violated (or not) each of the three basic principles of research ethics: beneficence, justice and respect for persons, using materials from your CITI training, the ASA Code of Ethics and the Belmont Report. Before you use each concept, find the definition of the concept and quote and cite the definition adding clarification and/or explanation in your

Tuskegee Syphilis study is well known for the unethical practices used in the time of study. The ethical principle violated in the study reminds us to protect the subject and regularize the informed consent use.