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The Tuskegee Syphilis Trials

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Exploitation has both negative and positive connotations that vary from case to case. Exploitation is a fluid type of manipulation that is beneficial for one of the parties involved, whether or not it is used for malicious or benevolent reasons. The history of exploitation and the control and mistrust that accompany are stained with bad blood. The Tuskegee syphilis trials pertain to the broader negative side of exploitation because African Americans are taken advantage of and are seen as a means to an end. However, when taking a deeper look at power and control, people can view exploitation from a different outlook. Anyone with a job is exploited for their talents, whether or not they admit to it; otherwise society would have no working class …show more content…

One of the many case examples is the Tuskegee syphilis trials that exploited African American men for the use of extensive research purposes. The researchers that were studying untreated syphilis were aware that the African Americans participating in the studied lacked the knowledge to understand what a true clinical study was. They were told that they were receiving free American healthcare, and were not disclosed to the information that they were, in fact, being studied and monitored to find a cure for syphilis. The researchers acted upon the participant’s ignorance to gain insight into syphilis and as stated by Allan Brandt, “When penicillin became widely available in the early 1950’s as the preferred treatment for syphilis, the men did not receive therapy. In fact on several occasions, the USPHS actually sought to prevent treatment”. (21) Over the course of the trials and sometime afterward, withholding the penicillin led to over one hundred deaths of men, women, and children. The ethical stipulations grew continually worse as more information was released, “The study continued, under numerous US Public Health Service supervisors, until 1972, when a leak to the press resulted in its termination on November 16 of that year.” (“Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment” 1) As Allan Brandt explored in his article, the basis of the study and the lack of severe punishment afterwards was based on a consensus, “Scientists speculated that in the struggle for survival the Negro in America was doomed. Particularly prone to disease, vice, and crime, black Americans could not be helped by education or philanthropy.” (21) This experiment was successful in curing a disease and was enacted with good intentions; however, it is still viewed as negative because of the moral and ethical

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This article gives multiple examples of unethical experiments performed on Black people one being the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. For 40 years, the Black men in the study were led to believe that they were being treated for “bad blood,” but in reality, they were not given proper treatment for syphilis. The result of withholding treatment from these men led to treatable deaths and their wives and children getting infected. Another unethical experiment mentioned in Medical Experiments on African-Americans in America was the work done by James Marion Sims, who is considered The Father of American gynecology. He performed multiple procedures on black slave women without anesthesia which was available at this time.

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Misunderstanding regarding the details of the Tuskegee syphilis study is common, but the historical accuracy is not as relevant as the strength of the beliefs that formed as a result of the study7. Gamble (1997) argues that roots of the fear of medical exploitation dates further back in history when, the bodies of Black people in Baltimore were taken from their graves for dissection in the 1830s,three female slaves were subjected to an estimated 30 gynecological surgeries each in Alabama in the late 1840s, and folklore describing night riders who kidnapped Black people for use in medical experiments in

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In Tuskegee, Alabama a group of men were chosen for an experiment involving the observation of how syphilis occurs in black men and its long term non-treated consequences. At the time of the experiment, the only treatment that was available was a heavy metal therapy; however, the scientists believed it was doing more harm than good. Therefore, they did not inform the men about the treatment and distracted them with basic incentives like hot meals and transportation. When penicillin, a cure for syphilis, was discovered the doctors made the decision to shield the cure away from the men. This is proof that scientists are

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The Tuskegee study of Untreated Syphilis began in 1932, mainly designed to determine the history of untreated latent syphilis on 600 African American men in Tuskegee, Alabama. 201 out of 600 men were non-syphilitic just unknowingly involved in the study as a control group This study is known to be “the most infamous biomedical research study in the U.S history”. Most of these men had never visited a doctor and they had no idea what illness they had. All of the men agreed to be a participant thinking they were being treated for “bad blood” and plus they were given free medical care and meals.

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It has now been a quarter of a century, and yet the images and heartache that still evolve when the words "Tuskegee Syphilis Study" are brought up, still haunts people around the world and touches upon many professionals such as social workers, medical examiners, and so forth. Sometimes people hear about this disgusting human experiment in a highly visible way directed to the entire country as an example of what we as a country and people, in general, should not do. This occurred when the study first made national news in 1972, when President Clinton offered a formal apology, or when Hollywood actors star in a fictionalized television movie of the story. On the other hand the audience may become fainter: kept alive only by memories and stories told in the African American community, in queries that circulate over the world wide web and radio talk shows, or even in courses such as this one being taught by social workers, historians, sociologists, or bioethicists. This is neither the first nor the last unethical human experiment done under the human study for the medical purposes umbrella, basically stating it is ok to sacrifice a few people in the name of medical research.

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The Tuskegee training program was started at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama in 1939 (Moye 2010). In early 1941, the War Department officially established the Tuskegee Airmen (Homan 2002). The Tuskegee Institute in Alabama became the only Army Air Forces training facility for African-Americans due to the Institutes great reputation and political connections (Moye 2010). Unlike all of the other Civilian Pilot Training programs, the Tuskegee program had consisted of only African-American pilot trainees. The Tuskegee Airmen were the very first group of American military pilots that were African-American (Homan 2002).

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The Medical Mistreatment of African Americans throughout History Throughout history, African Americans have been exploited not only through hard labor, but in research facilities and hospitals. African Americans have been tested on, abused, and researched without their consent, knowledge, nor full-understanding. Many times they were given false information to rationalize what was happening to them. African Americans were also not administered anesthetics while undergoing surgeries and other painful procedures.

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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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In the movie “Miss Evers Boys”, Nurse Eunice Evers takes an offer to work with two doctors on a program that was federally funded to treat patients afflicted with the syphilis disease in Tuskegee Alabama. The patients were only men and they agreed to take part in it because of the free treatment. After a while the program ended and money was offered to conduct an experiment. The experiment was the study of the effects of the syphilis disease on these men, specifically African Americans, whom didn’t receive treatment. Nurse Evers finds out from doctor Brodus that the four hundred plus men along with 200 uninfected men who served as controls, will be studied and not treated.

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