Tuskegee Studies

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 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 Macon County, Alabama, about 40% of African Americans had syphilis. Syphilis caused by a spirochete bacterium that is contracted sexually. In the 1930’s it had relatively no cures or treatments. Syphilis progresses into three stages, the last of which begins to attack the several organ systems of the individual. The victim may become paralyzed, blind and/or deaf; develop heart problems or a mental illness, or other symptoms (Gray 37-38). They decided that they wanted to compare and contrast how blacks and whites develop the disease and the effects on each race. Years before the study of the Negro was set to begin, a similar study for whites was conducted in Oslo, Norway. This study was a retrospective look into the effects of untreated syphilis in whites. The retrospective study used case histories of those who had syphilis when they died not living patients. The U.S. Public Health Service decided to use African Americans in Macon County in the experiment. Originally titled “The Effects of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male” the experimentations took place at the Tuskegee Institute which is why the study is generally named the Tuskegee Syphilis Study (Jones 93-94). The Rosenwald Fund, a foundation that funded many programs that were used in the betterment of African-Americans began funding this project. After the Stock Market crash of 1929, and the start of the Great Depression, the Rosenwald Fund has to withdraw all the funds that they

The Tuskegee syphilis experiment was an infamous clinical study conducted between 1932-1972 in Macon Country, Alabama by the U.S Public Health Service. The purpose was to study the natural progression of untreated syphilis in rural African American men who thought they were receiving free health care from the U.S government; about four hundred African American men were denied. The doctors that were involved in this study had a shifted mindset; they were called “racist monsters”; “for the most part, doctors and civil servants simply did their jobs. Some merely followed orders, others worked for the glory of science” (Heller) The men that were used for the study got advantage of, especially those

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study did not only affect the participants, it also created a path for families to be unknowingly infected with syphilis. As Yoon revealed, “Since 1975, the Government… providing lifetime medical benefits to the 22 wives, 17 children, and 2 grandchildren with syphilis they may have contracted as a direct result of the lack of treatment accorded the men in the study.” Because participants were uninformed that they were infected with syphilis, they innately went on with their daily life, which included sexual intercourse. This is how the horrific disease of syphilis was spread to their significant others and children; however, the participants’ and families’ physical health was not the only aspect of their health affected. Through research, Yoon

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 chapter ‘Under the Shadow of Tuskegee: African Americans and Health Care”, focuses on the relationship between African American and medical community due to The Tuskegee Syphilis Study. Even though the original study was projected to last only 6 months, the study actually last about 40 years. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study took place from 1932 to 1972. Researchers informed the 699 men infected men and 201 uninfected that they were doing testing on “bad blood” (LaVEIST, 2002), a term used to describe illnesses such as anemia, syphilis, and fatigue. The men were promised free meal, burial insurance, and free

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 study sample for the Tuskegee Syphilis study was made up of poor African-American males who were told they had bad blood based on a blood test that was given by the Public Health Service (PHS). These men were from a rural area with little education and no previous healthcare. I believe they participated because they were offered free treatment for their illness on a continuous bases,

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.

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

Why did these Black men take part in this study where they were getting little benefits? Why did the health professionals not worry about the ethics of this study? It was racial attitudes in America that helped keep this study alive. So many white Americans, including the white physicians involved, were convinced that syphilis was a black disease and whites could only get it from blacks spreading it. For anyone to say that race didn’t play a role in the Tuskegee study is impossible.

The Tuskegee syphilis study was the longest held study in the United States. The study continued for 40 years, from 1932 to 1972 which at that time a civil rights attorney ended the study and filed a lawsuit claiming the study carried out unethical methods. The Tuskegee study included only African American males with the diagnosis of syphilis. The study initially was to determine if the African American male progressed differently with the diagnosis compared to the white male. However, throughout time it appeared that the study moved to see how African American

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