Racism and Research the Tuskegee Syphilis Study free essay sample

This essay examines the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, wherein for 40 years (1932-1972) hundreds of black men suffering from advanced syphilis were studied but not treated. The 40-year study was controversial for reasons related to ethical standards; primarily because researchers knowingly failed to treat patients appropriately after the 1940s validation of penicillin as an effective cure for the disease they were studying. To explore the role of the racism in the controversial study, this essay analyzes the article written by Allan M. Brandt. | | The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment (also known as the Tuskegee Syphilis Study or Public Health Service Syphilis Study) was an infamous clinical study conducted between 1932 and 1972 in Tuskegee, Alabama by the U. S. Public Health Service (PHS) to study the natural progression of untreated syphilis in poor, rural black men who thought they were receiving free health care from the U. S. government. Allan M. Brandt suggests, the Tuskegee study must be understood as a result of enduring American racism. We will write a custom essay sample on Racism and Research the Tuskegee Syphilis Study or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The Tuskegee Syphilis Study of untreated syphilis was one of the most horrible scandals in American medicine in the 20th century. For a period of forty years, doctors and public officials watched 400 men in Alabama die in a scientific experiment based on unethical methods that could produce no new information about syphilis. The subjects of the study were never told they were participating in an experiment. Treatment that could have cured them was deliberately withheld, and many of the men were prevented from seeing physicians who could have helped them. As a result, many people died painful deaths, others became permanently blind or insane, and the children of several were born with congenital syphilis. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study was an ethical injustice of medical care. An ethical injustice of medical care is a violation of moral principles that apply values and judgments to the practice of medicine. It was an ethical injustice because no informed consent was given by any of the men, medication should have been provided when it became available and the study hould have been terminated when policies regarding experimentation with human subjects were implemented. Six of the values that commonly apply to medical ethics discussions are: * Autonomy the patient has the right to refuse or choose their treatment. * Beneficence a practitioner should act in the best interest of the patient. * Non-maleficence first, do no harm * Justice concerns the distribution of scarce health resources, and the decision of who gets what treatment (fai rness and equality). * Dignity the patient (and the person treating the patient) have the right to be treated with dignity. Truthfulness and honesty the concept of informed consent has increased in importance since the historical events of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. Values such as these do not give answers as to how to handle a particular situation, but provide a useful structure for understanding conflicts. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study violated several of these guidelines in order to continue their research. In the past and especially today this study was an unacceptable form of research that lead to the inhumane treatment of many men. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study was extremely unethical and should have been put to a stop much earlier in the process. When the study began there may not have been specific guidelines as to how to conduct a study, but after the Henderson Act and the Declaration of Helsinki, the researchers had an obligation to treat their subjects and end their study. By not doing so and allowing this study to go on for forty years, this has become one of the most unethical and inhumane events in the United States. The risk to the patients in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study was death, and no amount of scientific data was worth the lives of hundreds of men. There is no doubt that this study was unethical and inhumane, but I do not agree that it was racial. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study was conducted with subjects who were all African American. This can lead to the belief that the researchers were racist and used African Americans because their lives had less worth than white individuals. These are very valid realizations that could possibly be true but what is interesting is the use of African Americans for recruiting and also African Americans helping to conduct the study. The PHS even expressed that by using African American physicians they could more easily gain the cooperation from the African American studies. If this was a racist study why would African Americans support a study that devalued their own race? Another ironic fact about racism within the Tuskegee Syphilis Study was that the title of the study itself came from the Tuskegee Institute which was a black university that was founded by Booker T. Washington. When recruiting subjects, leaders within the black community were used to gain the confidence and trust of the men used in the study. For a study that is believed to be so racist, it is interesting that so many black organizations, leaders, doctors and nurses were involved. Racism within the Tuskegee Syphilis Study may always be debated but the idea that this study was unethical and inhumane is one that leaves a much smaller area for debate. The way the men in this study were treated was inhumane and unacceptable regardless of their race. We cannot change the events that happened during the time of this study but we can learn from its failure and gain a better insight into many social issues. The injustices that came from this event should not be forgotten and should be used as an example to demonstrate the severe consequences of not making the patient’s best interest a priority. â€Å"Racism and Research: The Case of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study† provided me clarity of the facts, none of the men were injected with syphilis, as it is often rumored. Not all of the men died of the disease. The article was interesting and quite informative. However, I disagree with Allan M. Brandt. I do not believe that the Tuskegee Syphilis Study should be understood as a result of enduring American racism.