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The Purpose Of The Tuskegee Syphilis Study

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The Tuskegee Syphilis Study was an unethical study used to find treatments for syphilis. The doctors lied to and kept information from the patients involved. The doctors had also decided to perform the study without proper consent of their patients. However, the study was done with good cause. Even though unethical, the study was used to find treatment for those with the illness who would need it. The main purpose of the study was, “...to record the natural history of syphilis in hopes of justifying treatment programs for blacks.” (U.S. Public Health Service Syphilis Study at Tuskegee) This shows that some benefit came from all of the bad of the study. The doctors performed the study, “... to understand the disease's natural history throughout time and to also determine proper treatment dosage for specific people and the best time to receive injections of treatments.” (Reverby, Susan.) This shows that there was a justified purpose of the study. In conclusion, although morally wrong, the study was justified and had purpose. …show more content…

The doctors involved in the study, “...had allowed hundreds of African-American men with syphilis to go untreated so that scientists could study the effects of the disease.” (Waxman, Olivia B.) This shows how the patients were mistreated and that the doctors didn’t care about their health. The doctors had allowed, “...200 or so... to suffer the disease and its side effects without treatment, even after penicillin was discovered as a cure for syphilis...” (Waxman, Olivia B.) This shows how even after a treatment was found, the doctors still refused treatment to most of the patients. In conclusion, the study was unethical and the doctors didn’t care about the health of their

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The PHS (Public Health Service) department recruited local doctors and nurses who would not treat the men with syphilis (Clinton). They had white physicians within their department administer the study (Batten). There were 400

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This experiment, conducted by the U.S. Public Health Service, was intent to study the natural progression of syphilis in African American male population. The study participants voluntarily participated in the study but the researchers did not properly inform the participants on the availability of treatment or the risks of the disease if untreated. To make the matter worse, the participants were deliberately led to believe that they were receiving treatment from the Public Health Service for free, while the actual treatment was being withheld to achieve the purpose of the research. In today’s point of view, it is surprising that even the federal agency did not respect the dignity of human rights for the sake of research. In Henrietta’s era, even the federal agency did not follow the proper informed consent procedure, and a prestigious institution like John’s Hopkins did not have any regulations or office such as Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) to govern their research protocols to protect human subjects and their rights.

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There were 600 participants, 399 men who had the disease and 201 men who did not have the disease (Jones, 1993, p. 1). Participants were selected because they lived in Macon County, Alabama. Researchers found this location to have high rates of syphilis. Melissa Greco writes, “Ironically, it began as a study to invoke more public health care for blacks, particularly in the treatment of syphilis, which was considered a major epidemic in the 1930s” (p. 188).

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The experimentation of human cell culture has been a familiar scientific practice for many years; it has helped develop the polio vaccine, tested the infection of several viruses in humans, and has been used to further research on cancer, AIDs, and the effects of radiation. Despite these seemingly miraculous developments in science, many are unfamiliar with the woman behind these discoveries: Henrietta Lacks. In her novel, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot investigates the life of Henrietta Lacks, a poor African-American tobacco farmer diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1951. Her cells, which were found to be “immortal” (continuously growing in cell culture), were extracted without her consent, and have become one of the

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Around the 1900s, doctors’ experimentation on their patients that involved their consent had raised little concern. Between 1920 and 1930, Syphilis was a crucial health problem. Healthcare was offered to people who earned low incomes in the South. African Americans were normally low-income citizens in the South and they were not perceived equal to whites. They were prone to have more health problems.

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In the context of medical research, informed consent provides individuals with the opportunity to accept or decline involvement in research, and thereby adheres to their right to choose. Obtaining consent from donors is not limited to simply seeking permission, but involves explaining the nature and consequences of research in an honest and understandable manner. When this aspect of informed consent is ignored, unethical research ensues. For example, during the infamous Tuskegee Syphilis Experiments, US Public Health researchers studied the progression of syphilis in African American men, under the false pretense of curing their “bad blood”. Though a treatment of penicillin was available at the time, researchers idly observed as subjects died painful, preventable deaths.

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“They recruited hundreds of African American men with syphilis, then watched them die slow, painful, preventable deaths, even after they realized penicillin could cure them” (Skloot 50). The quote connects to my claim by talking about how when scientists were experimenting on men with syphilis to find a cure (their goal) that they continued to wait and watched them die, already knowing what could cure them, which is an example of wrong and incomplete conduct. “He repeated this process with about a dozen other cancer patients. He told them he was testing their immune systems; he said nothing about injecting them with someone else's malignant cells” (Skloot 127-128).

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It was one of the longest study that had the backing of the United States Public Health Services (USPHS). In conclusion, even though the article talks about the group of males’ participations at free will, the experiment on African- American males was one of the cruelest that lacked diversity and was full of coercion and violated many APA ethical principles as well as simply impeded on the rights of human beings by withholding the available treatment to

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In this case, the question of this experiment was, “Does the prevalence of syphilis have the same effect on African American and whites?” Syphilis was said to be a “black” disease. In order to see if this question was true, a special type of person was needed, “the poor African American male”. The men who were chosen to participate in this experiment were very poor, had little to no education, worked on cotton fields, and had become accustom to their living conditions such as racism and lack of health care, and made it their lifestyle. Fred Grey (1998, p. 36) stated “I am sure that only a handful of the 600 participants… had ever been treated by a physician.

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Autopsy and physician assessments were done at local hospitals. This means a bunch of Tuskegee Institute faculty and staff were involved in the study. The fact that these doctors knew what was going on and didn’t do anything to stop the situation means they were not respecting their rights to be doctors, if you ask me. A doctor is obligated to help anyone they can and these doctors just turned their heads and looked the other way. Though this is one of the reasons the study was unethical, the main reason became known in 1940 when penicillin was discovered to cure syphilis and the researchers still did not offer the medicine to the test

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Additionally, this point protects against loss of confidentiality and deception. Within the decades the Tuskegee Experiment lasted, participants were subjected to medical procedures that required them to endure massive amount of pain at one time. Because participants were barred from administration of the penicillin , they suffered for years of syphilis symptoms. Many of the human subjects transmitted the disease to their families, wives and children. On the course of the study, the researchers even allowed the death of some of the participants.

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Through an abundance of medical and historical accounts, Medical Apartheid and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks exemplify how institutional racism has shaped the lives of African Americans. From the beginning of slavery through emancipation, African Americans have overwhelmingly been at the center of unethical medical research. The vast majority of this research has been done unwillingly. For research and experimentation that received the participant’s permission, there were usually hidden elements they were unaware of. Henrietta Washington sites specific examples, ranging from experimentation on plantations to post-emancipation radiation testing on African Americans.

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The outcome of the groups is that the syphilitic group and the untreated group were affected the most due to fatal deaths. However, the control group was not affected by the disease (Jones,

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The study would ultimately prove that everyone, no matter the color of their skin, is equal when it comes to the disease of syphilis. The intention behind manipulating the men was not for the greater good of society, but instead was for the greater good of Dr. Brodus and Miss Evers. Although the actions of Dr. Brodus and Miss Evers prove to be unethical, I also find the actions to be unprofessional. Miss Evers should have informed the men of the severity of the disease, as well as how the disease is passed from one individual to another. They failed to inform their patients of many of the risks that came along with the disease.

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The experiment was executed well. Yet, there are unethical practices happened during the experiment. First, the participants were not fully informed about the experiment. The researchers did not explain to the participants the processes in conducting the experiment. The participants were not informed that they would be arrested by cops in their homes.

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