The Tuskegee-Syphilis Study, Essay Example

How did the revelations about the syphilis study conducted on African American men alter the way that public health studies are conducted today? 

Although the treatment for syphilis had been invented when penicillin was administered, the social and historical climate in addition to the behaviors of various individuals collided in the controversial Tuskegee study during the middle of the twentieth century. Unfortunately, the promotion of the common good and social utility has not historically justified particular actions that are unchecked by intrinsic moral restraints. For decades spanning the 1930s and the 1970s, officials working for the U.S. Public Health Service used poor, uneducated African American males residing in Alabama as subjects for a study that examined how syphilis impacted human health if left untreated. The control group was made up of two hundred black men who purportedly were not infected with syphilis, while another group of 400 subjects were infected with the venereal disease. During that time period, syphilis was stigmatized as a morally degenerate malady that African-American males were predisposed to, which posed a large threat to the public health of American society as a whole. Williams & Collins (2001) contend that racial segregation is the main factor that places limitations for African Americans living in socioeconomically disadvantaged locales. Environmental factors figure prominently in their access to healthcare and medical resources. Medical officials justified the currency of this study by arguing that the ends justified the means, because nothing valuable was lost and medical knowledge was gained through it. This study, unequivocally inhumane, altered the way that public health research was conducted. Studies supported by federal agencies and using human subjects have to be supervised and reviewed by an Institutional Review Boards. Ethical treatment of subjects is mandated, which is evident through the new regulations passed that were to govern confidentiality. Moreover, public health researchers must obtained informed, voluntary consent from all individuals partaking a study.

Comments on paper

The author discusses how the Tuskegee Syphilis Study is a poignant example of how African Americans linked proper health care and treatment because of their adverse environmental conditions. To eliminate structural deficiencies, residential segregation must be eradicated despite how embedded such discrimination is in the fabric of American society. I agree with this contention, but the lack of access to healthcare is far more complex than the perpetuation of residential segregation. I think a general lack of knowledge about health care and health options has resulted in the persistence of such inequities within healthcare system.

Works Cited

Daly, Russell T.. “The Ethics of Embryonic Stem Cell Research: Finding Common Ground.” Welcome to Ohio University. http://www.ohio.edu/ethics/2001-conferences/the-ethics-of-embryonic-stem-cell-research-finding-common-ground/ (accessed April 18, 2014).

Meilaender, Gilbert. Bioethics: a Primer For Christians. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans Pub., 1996.