Tuskegee Study, Research Paper Example

Abstract

This paper posits to provide insight into one of the most controversial medical cases in human history. The Tuskegee study commonly referred to as the “bad blood experiment” is clearly one of the most contentious medical tragedies the world has experienced. In 1932, the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) launched the Tuskegee Syphilis Study to provide documentation of syphilis’ natural history. The subjects of the study were three hundred and ninety nine underprivileged black tenant farmers from Macon County in Alabama. These subjects had latent syphilis and another two hundred and one men who did not have the disease, served as controls (Jones, 1981).

Introduction

While experimentation on human subjects has all long been understood to be weighed down with solemn ethical concerns the Tuskegee syphilis study symbolizes gross disregard of fundamental ethical doctrines of conduct. The ethics employed by the researchers were cynical at best and resulted in heated debate among diverse scholars. The Tuskegee syphilis study raised numerous ethical issues in human experimentation and significantly impacted the fundamental rights of American citizens (Jones, 1981). This has in the recent past been acknowledged by a former US president Bill Clinton. The former president offered a strongly worded apology to the survivors of the tragedy on behalf of the US government. He acknowledged in the apology that the subjects’ basic rights were undervalued as well as being a violation of their moral and natural rights. He acknowledged that the rights to liberty and life were neglected and the tragedy amounted to racism (Research Nurse, 1997). Bearing in mind that the public health service was entirely conscious of the fact that the subjects had syphilis and denied them of any treatment, it means therefore that the study subjects simply murdered.

The Tragedy

The underlying principle of study was the examination of the complete course of syphilis in the body of a black male in comparison to the body of a white male. The study subjects were ignorant of the whole truth of the study. The study subjects were found in underprivileged, harsh living environment where the majority of the African American population was illiterate. The doctors responsible for conducting the Study mislead the subjects in which case they underwent a treatment for a condition of “bad blood.”  The term “bad blood” covered numerous conditions including fatigue, syphilis, and anemia. The subjects were had a shadow pulled over their eyes to deceive them into thinking they were being offered effective treatment for the “bad blood”. The USPHS practiced fraud in enlisting subjects for the study. It was never clarified to the subjects that the study was intended to detect syphilis. The term “bad blood,” which was a local colloquialism was not defined to the subjects for the purposes of the study. Subjects were not informed that they were suffering from syphilis, the cause of the ailment, or its treatment. The treatment given to them comprised of spinal taps, which were explained as “spinal shots” (Heintzelman, 1995).

On the other hand the subjects were only given medication that could not cure the syphilis. The Local health departments assisted the public health service to ensure that the study subjects did not receive effective treatment for syphilis. They intentionally deprived treatment to the subjects who were suffering from syphilis and they ensured that these subjects who had syphilis could not receive therapy from elsewhere. The subjects were provided with free medical examinations, free meals as well as burial insurance in substitute for their involvement in the study (Jones, 1981).

According to utilitarianism, the general expression for whichever view that embraces that polices and actions ought to be assessed on the basis of the costs and benefits they cause to society (Velasquez 2006). Every net benefit of an action is measured as utility. If the utility of the action surpasses the cost then that particular action would be considered as ethical. From this point of view, the Tuskegee study was entirely non beneficial. There was completely no constructive result that could have been achieved from the study. The Tuskegee study had no focus on treatment; neither were there new drugs to be tested, nor an endeavor made to ascertain the efficacy of older forms of treatment (Jones 1981).  The Tuskegee syphilis study costs greatly surpassed its benefits if any.

The Implications of the Tuskegee Study and Lessons Learnt

In the absence of any control group of white men, the data gathered would be inappropriate anyway. Numerous significant ethical issues concerning human research subjects require to be studied further. The first main ethical issue is informed consent, whose purpose is to inform potential research subjects about every aspect of the research that may significantly influence their judgment to participate. A key unresolved issue is precisely how far researchers’ responsibilities extend to research subjects. Another issue has to do with the prospect that an individual may feel coerced to give consent or might not comprehend precisely what he is consenting to. The researchers in the Tuskegee study exploited a destitute socioeconomic situation in which the subjects had experienced poor degrees of care. The contacts were in the company of doctors and nurses who were perceived as authority figures (Heintzelman, 2003).
References

Heintzelman, C. A. (1995). Ethical issues in the social work research: The Tuskegee syphilis study, 41^st Annual Program Meeting, Council on the Social Work Education, S D: California.

Heintzelman,(2003). The New Social Worker. Tuskegee Syphilis Study & Its Implications for 21st Century. Retrieved May 21, 2011 from             http://www.socialworker.com/tuskegee.htm.

Jones, J. (1981). Bad Blood: Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment: A Tragedy of Race & Medicine. N Y: The Free Press.

Research Nurse, (1997).History of Apology: From the Tuskegee to White House. Retrieved May 21, 2011, from http://www.wellesley.edu/WomenSt/ResearchNurse.pdf

Velasquez Manuel, G. (2006). Business Ethics Concepts and Cases 6^th Ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education.