Ethical Directives And Practices Of The Tuskegee Scandal

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The Tuskegee experimental study, which was carried out for a total of forty years from 1932 to 1972, remains one of the biggest and indeed one of the most disgusting scandals in the history of American medicine. More than 400 black men died in Alabama as public officials and doctors watched (Brandt, 1978). The Tuskegee scandal was a scientific experiment which was done using unethical ways and methods that in the end did not result in the production of new information on syphilis. The cure of the subjects who participated in the study was withheld without their knowledge, and consequently, many people died while others were left with permanent disabilities. Newborns were not spared either, and many of them were infected with congenital syphilis. …show more content…

The experiment created an uproar among black people whose compatriots who were used as subjects in the study either lost their lives, became permanently disabled, and others became insane. The whole scandal brought forward issues of racism and medical opinions on race (Brandt, 1978). The Tuskegee study aimed to prove a scientific thought about race and hereditary. The point of interest was primarily on the sexual nature of the blacks. According to the American Medical Association journal, white doctors believed that the Negros from the southern states had an excessive sexual desire that threatened the white society, and in that case, the doctors gave out the reports indicating that blacks lacked