The Tuskegee Medical Experiment

They trusted the scientists so they thought they knew all they needed to know, but they didn’t know the most important. They didn’t know what would happen to their bodies after the experiment, they didn’t know that there would be possibilities of rectal tears or of impotence. (Kolata) If the biopsies came positive of prostate cancer, they would get a clean bed, 3 meals for a few days and free medicaid care and treatment. Also, being that they were positive for prostate cancer, a procedure would be performed where the prostate and possibly their testicles would be removed.

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.

They have painful ways to get the infections into the test subjects body. The scientists would create many different diseases in the victim's body. They stated that they did the experiments to find treatments for malaria, typhus, tuberculosis, typhoid fevers, and hepatitis (Nazi). To get the infections into the test subjects body, they would either cut wounds with knives or anything they could find and let infection start on its own or inject it themselves through shots.

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

These men were not treated as humans with rights and their health was not made a priority to the medical professional carrying for them. The data on the progression of Syphilis was not worth what it cost to so many men. It is a shame that a medical study was promoted in such an unethical manner and that these men trusted the treatment that was being provided. Nursing is an honor and a trusted role that should be treated as such in all of our

The experiments performed by German physicians during World War II were torturous, unethical, and unreasonable when considering better ways in which the research could have been conducted. Experiments were performed on non-consenting camp prisoners by physicians attempting to improve soldier survival rates and further knowledge in lesser-explored medical fields (Coleman et al. 16). Experimentation to find a cure for Malaria was performed from February 1942 to April 1945, during which time prisoners were infected with malaria and treated with different drugs in order to find the best cure. Coleman notes, “Over 1,000 involuntary subjects were used in these experiments. Many of the victims died and others suffered from severe pain and disability…”

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.

Then, there was a sterilization experiment. They conducted the experiment by using drugs, surgery, and x-rays. Thousands of victims were experimented on. The most common choice was radiation treatment. The victims were deceived into going into a room where the treatment was being held.

This was due to the misconception that that blacks did not feel the same pain as whites (Ward, Tom. " Author recounts history of medical racism”). Along with all the pain and lives sacrificed, many studies and experiments yielded no

Unethical experiment in medical history: Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment The Tuskegee experiment of untreated syphilis was one of the most horrible scandals in America, which was effected on American medicine in the 20th century. It was Untreated Syphilis in the African American Male is the longest nontherapeutic experiment on human in medical history. For a period of forty years, from 1932 to 1972 doctors and medical staff viewed 400 men in Alabama die in a scientific research experiment taking into based on unethical methods that could deliver no new data about syphilis. The study was conducted in two groups by selecting 400 populations from African American men. The research subjects, all of whom had syphilis when they were enrolled in the study and some “black men from Alabama were injecting virus which causes syphilis” were comper with 200 uninfected subjects who served as a

However, some of the men had to be turned down because their test result was positive for syphilis. Furthermore, after the news spread, there were constantly 407 men that requested the pills that were “pink medicine.” Eventually, the government doctors began disposing iron tonic for the men that were examined. The men were unaware that the pills disposed to them were placebo. On the other hand, the dependent variable is the men that were not treated.

The treatment began with mercury rubs, but soon funding was cut and the doctor could no longer afford to use the mercury. The men were under the impression

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

With the disease running rampantly throughout the city it was quickly brought up to the medical community where the debate over inoculation began. The debate was whether or not inoculation was safe, ethical, and even if it worked with the majority opposing the method due to the lack of proper research, ethical reasons, and even religious reasons. However one doctor by the name of Zabdiel Boylston took it upon himself to inoculate a group of 282 citizens. Out of the 282 who were inoculated only 6 died to the disease thereby proving that inoculation was not an unsturdy