Ethical Issues Surrounding The Tuskegee Experiment

“Tuskegee syphilis study, official name Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male, American medical research project that earned notoriety for its unethical experimentation on African American patients in the rural South” (Britannica, 2016). The scientists wanted to see how syphilis affects black people differently than to white people. 400 black men were test subjects for the study without their knowledge. There was already a cure for the disease but they did not want to give the participants the cure because they wanted to see how the disease affects them. This is unethical because it gave African Americans unfair

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

In the Tuskegee Study, the participants were wrongfully used as human subjects for forty years by being withheld curative treatment.   Secondly, the physicians violated the International Code of Ethics throughout the entire Tuskegee Study.   The International Code of Ethics states physicians are responsible for promoting the health, well-being, and rights of patients (WMA).   Once Penicillin was found to cure syphilis, the physicians willingly allowed the participants to go untreated.

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.

Which is the process to use any part of someone’s body. Even though it was something that help a lot of people it was done unethical. In conclusion to the ethical theories, the Utilitarianism and deontology is on two different sides of the fence. While one is applauding the doctor and believe that it is ethical, the other believes following the rules and believes that it is unethical. Based on the story and the time frame, this experiment was ethical and the right thing to

They were told that they were being treated of ‘bad blood” and the doctors who conducted this study had no intention of curing the patients of syphilis at all; their focus of the experiment was to see the symptoms from beginning to end. The doctors of the experiment persuaded people to join the trial by offering to pay for burial services and by providing care for their illness which they thought was something else. This experiment targeted African Americans that had no education level to know that they were being manipulated. They were taught to believe that doctors were there to help and nothing they would do would harm them. Like when the only real cure for syphilis was discovered the patients were denied of treatment.

According to Carol A. Heintzelman (2003, Vol. 10, No. 4), the Tuskegee study of untreated syphilis in the African American male was the longest nontherapeutic experiment on human beings in medical history. The study began in 1932 in Macon County, Alabama, where the government used 600 men in a forty-year experiment. The purpose of the Tuskegee study was to record the history of syphilis in blacks, but to ultimately determine if syphilis had the same effect on African Americans as whites. The African American men were told that they were receiving free “treatment” for “bad blood”, in which case they thought they were being treated for different ailments. But in actuality they were being injected with syphilis and watched to see how their

Ever since the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment and other similar experiments that include human subjects, the issues on patient privacy and informed consent were the central issues, which led to the three basic ethical principles as outlined in the Belmont Report. According to the report, the principles of respect of person, beneficence, and justice are the general judgement we apply as justification for ethical prescriptions and evaluations of human actions.1 Therefore, all students, researches, or healthcare professionals have to abide by these principles even though it is a difficult issue within healthcare informatics. The issue of confidentiality is very problematic indeed, especially when it relates to race/ethnicity.

In response to the horrific and disgusting acts of the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, measures were put into place in order to prevent of a another disastrous incident from repeating. It was a political embarrassment to the government. The governing system at the time allowed the experiment to continue for decades before it was exposed to the public. Human subjects in the experiment were manipulated and exploited. It failed to protect its people and turned a blind eye to any unethical proceedings that took place during the experiment.

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.

Medical studies today have many benefits — from research to observe diseases and conditions, to experiments to discover cures for deadly ailments — which ultimately aid the public’s health and well-being. However, not even a century ago, rules and protocol that helped run tests safely did not exist. The “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male” shaped the foundation of modern medical ethics that protect people involved in clinical trials today. The Tuskegee Experiment lasted for forty years, from 1932 to 1972 (“The Tuskegee Timeline”).

Their research focused on Black men in that area, and how their body will react to syphilis. However, at the time there was no cure or treatment for the sexually transmitted disease. This study lasted for over 40 years and is now known as the Tuskegee Experiments. The stigma may have stemmed from these times were African Americans from this era in time.

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.

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.

This study was referred to as the “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis