Tuskegee Model Case For Unethical Research Practices

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.

Due to the lack of money but the high demand of need of specific regimens in developing countries, researchers from developed countries are allowed to conduct trials on those citizens. In this article, Baruch Brody argues against moral criticisms given towards clinical trials in developing countries. His three arguments are the subjects weren’t treated unjustly (following an appropriate standard of justice), the subjects weren’t coerced (in terms of any plausible interpretation of the word), and the subjects weren’t being exploited (if they themselves gain access to the treatment after the study).

It was unethical because the subjects were unaware of the consequences and denied the treatment for their disease.

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.

A 35-year-old man named Paul, who has a supportive wife and two adventurous kids, has been diagnosed with a very severe case of bone cancer for 1 year now. Since this type of cancer is so severe, chemotherapy is starting to not work as well. Paul’s oncologist unfortunately had to suggest a final option for Paul to try which was a clinical research trial. Clinical research trials are experimental studies that deem whether or not a medical drug, treatment, surgery, or device is safe and beneficial for humans to use ("National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute"). As explained in Marcia Angell’s Article, “The Ethics of Clinical Research in the Third World”, the Declaration of Helsinki of the World Health Organization (WHO) provides a guideline

The Central American study, was the original international study, and the Tuskegee study was a contrast on their human subjects. Dr. J. E. Moore called the Oslo Study “a never to be repeated human experiment”. The Oslo Study was the first study that had white male participants only, which were cure rapidly compare to the other two studies. Since Guatemala was a low-income country the Public Health Services targeted them, and took full advantage of the men. A dissimilarity between the studies was that, Guatemala was that when the participants failed to attract the disease, the doctors would inoculate the disease purposely onto the skin whether it was from scratching or a spinal tap injection. (Reverby, 2010) In the Tuskegee study, the African Americans, were targeted purposely because of their lack of education and their need of medical care. Since U.S Public Health Service are superior than all the African Americans that were a participant they took over their lives for a short-term of period, just for the benefit for the U.S Public Health

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

Whilst deception played a huge role in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, many are aware that deception compromises the integrity of research study. Malicious violations of human rights have transpired throughout American history titles under the name research. Under those past circumstances, there have been some discoveries that helped propel mankind’s survival and advanced knowledge. These discoveries do not validate the cruelties that unprivileged people like African Americans endured. Overall, it should be mandatory for research studies to be ethical and not undermine the values and dignity of humanity.

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.

Breach of Ethics Provisions in the Tuskegee study shown in the movie, Miss Evers’ Boys]

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 talked 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 no follow up treatment was offered nor information on what diseases they were infected with.

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.

Medical ethics pertains to upholding a moral code when providing healthcare and performing scientific medical research. The Tuskegee study failed to uphold the moral codes.

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 Nuremberg Doctors Trial of 1946 is the preeminent case recognizing the importance of medical ethics and human rights specifically about human research subjects. The defendants in the trials include Nazi leadership, physicians, and investigators prosecuted for conducting unethical and inhumane medical experiments on civilians and prisoners of war resulting in extreme pain, suffering, permanent injury and often death. The Nuremberg Code, borne of these trials, establishes ethical guidelines for human experimentation to ensure the rights of subjects in medical research. Herein, this writer will first identify and discuss ethical dilemmas presented in the Nuremberg case followed by three