Tuskegee Experiment
The Tuskegee Syphilis experiment is the most infamous clinical study conducted in the United States between 1932 -1972. The study of natural progression of untreated syphilis in rural Africa American men, led to a forty year study which was controversial for reasons related to ethical standards; researchers knowingly failed to treat patients after the 1940s validation of penicillin. The patients with syphilis were never told they had it, were part of a case study, could leave the experiment at any given time and were not being treated for properly for syphilis. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention the men were told they were being treated for “bad blood”, which is a local term for various illnesses that include syphilis, anemia, and fatigue (CDC, 2013).
The study was meant to discover how syphilis affected blacks as opposed to whites; the theory being that whites experienced more neurological complications from syphilis, whereas blacks were more susceptible to cardiovascular damage. In the case of Tuskegee Syphilis, 600 black men were used as laboratory animals in a long and inefficient study of how long it takes syphilis to kill someone (Gray, 1998). In my reaction I am appalled at the public health system for allowing the study to conclude as long as it did. In my opinion this is a clear example of discrimination. Discrimination may be based on differences due to age, ability, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic by which people differ (CDC, 2013). In this case African American men were the target of racism and discrimination in the following ways:
1) The U.S. government violated the constitutional rights of the participants…
2) The government knew the participants had syphilis and failed to treat them.
3) The Public Health Service failed to fully disclose to the participants that they had syphilis, that they were participating in the study, and that treatment was available for
The study was meant to discover how syphilis affected blacks as opposed to whites; the theory being that whites experienced more neurological complications from syphilis, whereas blacks were more susceptible to cardiovascular damage. In the case of Tuskegee Syphilis, 600 black men were used as laboratory animals in a long and inefficient study of how long it takes syphilis to kill someone (Gray, 1998). In my reaction I am appalled at the public health system for allowing the study to conclude as long as it did. In my opinion this is a clear example of discrimination. Discrimination may be based on differences due to age, ability, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic by which people differ (CDC, 2013). In this case African American men were the target of racism and discrimination in the following ways:
1) The U.S. government violated the constitutional rights of the participants…
2) The government knew the participants had syphilis and failed to treat them.
3) The Public Health Service failed to fully disclose to the participants that they had syphilis, that they were participating in the study, and that treatment was available for