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Pros And Cons Of Tuskegee Experiment

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An American Research Ethics Travesty In 1932, the United States Public Health Service partnered with the Tuskegee Institute of Macon County, Alabama. Together, they collaborated for an experiment that would go down in United States history as one of the most notoriously corrupt and unjust studies since the doctors of Nazi Germany. Subjects were given the Syphilis virus and the doctors simply wanted to see how they survived without any treatment. This experiment went on until 1972, which makes for a grand total of forty years. There was no known treatment for Syphilis when this experiment began in 1932. However, this changed in the 1940’s when penicillin was discovered to treat the disease. Even with this knowledge, the study continued for …show more content…

Again, the Tuskegee experiment in no way, shape, or form practiced beneficence. Subjects were given a knowingly harmful virus without any way to counter it. There was no way to minimize the risks, and there were no benefits in the slightest. Ethically speaking, the Tuskegee experiment did not even remotely attempt any sort of beneficence for the human beings involved. The third principle established by the Belmont Report is justice. There was no equitable selection of the participants, and the participants were unfairly coerced into their involvement. The individuals involved in the experiment were unjustly selected based off of their race and geographic location. Every single guideline of the Belmont Report was violated in the Tuskegee experiment. Although the Belmont Report was not created until the end of the Tuskegee experiment, its principles should have been a staple in any sane scientists experimental efforts as it simply spells out human …show more content…

Overall, the recruitment letter was very bland. It stated that they could be treated for their “bad blood” free of charge. They were pressured to quickly sign up by the letters critical tone. It states that it was a “special examination” and that “because we expect it to be busy so it may be necessary to stay overnight.” The letter ended with a message in all capital letters to furthermore create a sense of urgency by saying “REMEMBER THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE FOR SPECIAL FREE TREATMENT. BE SURE TO MEET THE NURSE.” The United States Public Health Service did not even remotely discuss what the experiment entailed, and they used an uneducated minority group to test the potentially deadly virus on the human subjects that were unlucky enough to have been on the receiving end of this letter.
The single most heinous factor about the Tuskegee experiment was that it took until 1997 for the United States government to admit any fault. The current president at the time of the apology was Bill Clinton. Clinton issued this apology on behalf of the United States government in a ceremony at the White House which was attended by five of the eight remaining survivors of the Tuskegee

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