An Analyzation of Beneficence Throughout world history, many immoral research studies have been performed on human subjects. The film, Miss Evers’ Boys, does an outstanding job of portraying a study that was implemented in Tuskegee, Alabama in 1932 (Benedetti, Fishburne, & Sargent, 1997). Miss Evers’ Boys creatively depicts the Tuskegee Experiment, of which studied the natural course of syphilis in African American men. Although penicillin became known as a treatment for syphilis during the 1940’s, the subjects remained deliberately untreated by researchers for decades (Burns, Gray, & Groves, 2014). The striking unethical acts performed in this study helped pave the way towards the founding of The Belmont Report, a set of regulations written to protect human research subjects in 1974 (Burns et al., 2014). The purpose of this paper is to analyze beneficence, one of the ethical principles identified in The Belmont Report, and how it was violated in the film Miss Evers’ Boys. Before one can analyze the violation of beneficence in …show more content…
Not only did the researchers break the rule to do no harm by allowing the men to fall subject to the greatest harm possible, but they broke the rule to maximize benefits and minimize harm as well. In order to prevent ethical breaches under the principle of beneficence from occurring again, there are two steps that all researchers should take. The first step that should be taken is to assess of the justifiability of your research. What is the exact reason as to why this experiment should be done and is it really necessary? The next step is to assess the scope of risks and benefits. Are the risks that you’re putting your human subjects in worth the benefits that will be created in the end? With the help of these two steps, and by really critically thinking about the outcomes of your research, minimal breaches of beneficence should
The Tuskegee Syphilis study was unethical because the participants did not give consent to be tested on, the scientists targeted only black men, and many participants died. The experiment was unethical because the participants did not give consent to be test subjects of this study. The participants were promised free healthcare without their knowledge of the experiment. “The subjects of the experiment were observed over a period of several decades, but the nearly 400 men who were infected were not informed of their diagnosis.
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.
Inferior Medical Techniques and Medical Ethics in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Throughout the medical field, doctors, surgeons, and nurses have found ways to create inferior treatment while they stayed inside the rules and boundaries of the medical field. The community that suffered most from these techniques was the African American community. Doctors treated African Americans with unsterile equipment, had procedures performed that were not specified before operation, and had parts of their own body stolen for examination without proper consent. African Americans and Caucasians earned totally different treatment because to the color of their skin which caused a conflict of ethics. The medical professionals has misinterpreted, ignored,
The job of the “Commission was to identify the basic ethical principles that should underlie the conduct of biomedical and behavioral research involving human subjects and to develop guidelines which should be followed to assure that such research is conducted in accordance with those principles.” (The National Commission for the Protection of Human
In fact, the men were not provided enough information to properly consent to the experiment. Even when the cure for syphilis was discovered in 1947, researchers did not offer the medication to their subjects. Consequently, researchers abused their powers by recruiting test subjects that were unaware of the real purpose of their study. In this scenario, the medical knowledge of the researchers gave them power and an unjust advantage over their ignorant subjects. Researchers proved their corruption when this study, originally projected to last only 6 months, lasted instead for 40
The Belmont Report is now a required read for all participants involved in human research (ZZZ). The Belmont Report addresses three ethical principles for human research participants. One ethical principle is respect for the person. Respect for the person requires medical researchers to obtain informed consent from study participants. Additionally, the participants must be given accurate information about their circumstances and treatment options so they are allowed to decide what happens to them(ZZZ).
The Tuskegee Experiment The Tuskegee experiment was a mind blowing experiment that was conducted by the Public Health Service (PHS). This experiment took place between 1932 and 1972 in Tuskegee, Alabama and lasted for forty-years. It affected many African-American males, who were used as human “guinea pigs” in order to track the movement of Syphilis and how long the disease will take to kill someone. The men used for the experiment was not aware that they were a part of this study; instead they thought that they were being treated for having “bad blood”. The U.S Public Health Services gathered 399 black males who were affected with the disease and 201 without it, who were offered free health care and insurance for their participation.
The Tuskegee experiment was not the only research study that tricked African Americans into getting procedures which then led to more distrust of science and medicine. African American women thought they were getting their appendix removed but without their consent or knowledge had hysterectomies preformed on them for no other reason than for young doctors to practice doing the procedure leaving these women no longer able to have children (Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
First of all, the investigators should have respected the people they were going to conduct by obtaining an informed consent, letting the men decide if they want to be a participant after all. Second of all, medical researchers should not have lied to the people about how long this study was going to last. Third of all, both the risks and the benefits of it should have been stated to them so that the men could decide if this experiment is any beneficial to them or not. Lastly, the participants should have been randomly assigned to the control or experimental group without considering their race, class, and gender. Also, the medical researchers should not have the right to give the favored participants the helpful treatment rather than the riskier
The Tuskegee syphilis experiment was an infamous that study the natural progression of untreated syphilis through African American men. These people were told that if they participate in this experiment they would receive free health care from the U.S. government. Around 400 men or 399 exact had syphilis while the remaining 200 didn’t have the disease, a total of 600 men were enrolled in the study. However, later on those who was infected wasn’t told that they had it, neither was he treated with penicillin which later on became the treatment. Due to this reason many of the men that participated in this experimented passed away due to syphilis.
Since the value of animal life as a living being should be recognized and to a certain extent equated to the value of human life, the animal experiments raise a range of ethical questions (Armstrong & Botzler,
Rather prevention or precaution measures the experiment was conducted with the intent to render results. I’m really not sure how this question should be answered. The outcome of the experiment wasn’t someone dying or Professor Zimbardo being prosecuted for violating someone’s civil rights, I mean, the experiment rendered astonishing feedback for the field of psychology. In addition to exploring the nature of evil, asking me what I would have done if I were Professor Zimbardo is clear. I would have allowed an equal opportunity so both: guards, staff, and inmates were subjected to race barriers.
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.
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.
This study was referred to as the “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis