Tuskegee Syphilis Study By Stephen B. Thomas And Sandra Crouse Quinn

In the article, Tuskegee Syphilis Study, by Stephen B. Thomas and Sandra Crouse Quinn, we are shown some background information of how AIDS/HIV affected more of the black population then the whites. This was found to be a result due to the lack of education toward contracting AIDS/HIV. The goal for the public health care professionals is to be able to educate the blacks, but also understand their history of their attitudes and beliefs towards health care. Blacks have shaped their attitudes and beliefs from the history of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, which has made their community fear about genocide and trust of the health care professionals. There was many factors that influenced toward the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, some of which were the Julius

Due to their lack of not being health care treated and not understanding the meaning of medical terms, they were not informed about syphilis. Syphilis was given the name “bad blood”, which is what the “black people of the rural south used to describe a variety of ailments” (p. 1501). They persuaded these black men to be a part of the study by offering them free medical care, food and transportation. The study furthered on than the intentional six to nine months planned, and so both the Alabama state health officer and Macon County Board of Health made a deal with the PHS to let the study continue, as long as the men who were found with syphilis were treated. The PHS did not give the men the treatment they needed to be effective because that would put an end to their study, even when there was options such as Penicillin. Nevertheless, this study lasted 40-years’ worth due to the state and local health officials continuing the study, which has been recorded as the most “longest nontherapeutic experiment on human beings in medical history” (p. 1501). Eventually, the study was put to an end by Peter Buxtun, who was “a venereal disease interviewer and investigator with the PHS, with his moral concerns, racial views of the study, and a front

In both cases, the blacks were found to be the most affected and the primary goal was trying to educate them to prevent spreading. But, most of “the strategies use to recruit and retain participants in the study were quite similar to those being advocated for HIV education and AIDS risk reduction programs” (p. 1500). This has made the Tuskegee Syphilis study a negative outlook for the blacks to not trust in the HIV/AIDS education. Therefore, the goal of the HIV/AIDS is to not reference to the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and try to establish a trust from the Black Americans. It is believed that “ the emphasis on HIV testing and counseling without adequate access to clinical trials and appropriate therapy for AIDS evokes memories of the deliberate withholding of treatment by the researchers in the Tuskegee study” (p. 1504). Since there is no cure found to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS, the only way is to educate and inform the Black community, but in a way that will benefit