Tuskegee Study Of Untreated Syphilis Summary

Introduction

The “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male” Consisted of 600 black males, 399 had syphilis and 201 of them did not have syphilis. Initiated in 1932, the research was conducted without the patients’ informed consent. The only remuneration these subjects received was free medical exams, free meals and burial insurance. The study was initially expected to continue for six months but actually extended for more than 40 years. (CDC, 2017) The subjects were given regular assessments and were told they were being treated for their syphilis. The men had been lied to and had not been given all the facts required to provide informed consent. Treatments for their disease was never given, in which it could have been
(Bishop, 2017) Autonomy includes respect for people and their right to make choices, hold viewpoints and to act on their personal values and beliefs. Justice toward others means to treat others equitably and to distribute rewards and obligations fairly. Non-maleficence or doing no harm implies an obligation not to intentionally cause others harm. Beneficence refers to actions that benefit others and contributes to their well-being. (Bishop, 2017) Principles of respect define how people should treat others and how to live an ethical life. Every one of these four principles were violated in the Tuskegee experiment. The researchers did not treat their test subjects with respect by misleading them about the nature of the study and in how the study was conducted. Justice was not present in this event by any stretch of the definition and the subjects were not treated equitably. The experiment did cause harm to the individuals involved by not treating them with the best available medicines for syphilis. There was no act of beneficence for the people under study, aside from the meager burial insurance and food they were
The Declaration was the by-product of deliberations over the preceding two world wars that saw all manner of atrocities committed against human subjects by the Nazis and others. (UN, 2017) The Declaration condemned torture, slavery, discrimination and advocated for every person’s right to equal protection under the law. It also prohibited arbitrary arrests and detentions without cause. It outlined freedoms of travel within one’s borders and to seek asylum in other countries from persecution. (UN, 2017) The Tuskegee Study violated several provisions of the Declaration including the right to dignity and fair play within the eyes of the law. The experiment violated the basic tenants of human dignity and lied to the participants which kept them from exercising their free judgment regarding participation in this