...Tuskegee Syphilis Research Study Leslie Valentine ME1415: Medical Law and Ethics and Records Management Ultimate Medical Academy Zakevia Green Abstract In this paper I am going to answer the following questions as the relate to the Tuskegee Syphilis Research Study found on page 264 in the Medical Law and Ethics textbook by Bonnie F. Fremgen. The questions are: 1. Could this type of research be conducted today? Why or why not? 2. What should the public have done, since they knew about the study? 3. In your opinion, how should the data be used that is obtained from an unethical experiment and how can we prevent this from happening again? 4. Discuss the code of ethics as it relates to this study? 5. What are your personal thoughts on the ethical standards exhibited through this study? Tuskegee Syphilis Research Study Any research like the Tuskegee Syphilis Research Study could not be conducted today. There are many reasons as to why this type of research study cannot be conducted today. One reason is because people of all races are more aware of diseases that today’s society has now than they were back then. Also, people nowadays want to be treated for the disease(s) that they have whether than be experimented with. People in today’s society are also more aware of the researches that are taking place to not allow this type of study to be conducted. In my opinion, the public should have not allowed this type of research to be conducted. In the research study...
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...The Tuskegee Syphilis Study: Some Ethical Reflections 75 The Tuskegee Syphilis Study: Some Ethical Reflections Adebayo A. Ogungbure Department of Philosophy University of Ibadan, Nigeria philosopher.bayo@yahoo.com Thought and Practice: A Journal of the Philosophical Association of Kenya (PAK) New Series, Vol.3 No.2, December 2011, pp.75-92 thoughtandpractice@gmail.com http://ajol.info/index.php/tp/index Abstract There are established ethical principles to protect human participants in biomedical research from undue exploitation by researchers. However, in the “Tuskegee Study” in the US, these principles were grossly violated. The task of this paper is to critically examine the ethical implications of that study on future practices in biomedical research, and to suggest ways of ensuring that such practices comply with appropriate ethical values. Key Words Bioethics, Biomedical research, clinical research, Tuskegee Study, paternalism, morality Introduction From time to time human beings experience health challenges, whether physical or mental. On its part, medical practice has made considerable progress towards combating or controlling many of these challenges. It is through research that the nature, symptoms and effects of ailments can be ascertained and remedies discovered. Medical researchers engage in both therapeutic and non-therapeutic research. Therapeutic research is that carried out with the purpose of treating disease. On the other hand, non-therapeutic...
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...The Tuskegee Syphilis Study: Some Ethical Reflections 75 The Tuskegee Syphilis Study: Some Ethical Reflections Adebayo A. Ogungbure Department of Philosophy University of Ibadan, Nigeria philosopher.bayo@yahoo.com Thought and Practice: A Journal of the Philosophical Association of Kenya (PAK) New Series, Vol.3 No.2, December 2011, pp.75-92 thoughtandpractice@gmail.com http://ajol.info/index.php/tp/index Abstract There are established ethical principles to protect human participants in biomedical research from undue exploitation by researchers. However, in the “Tuskegee Study” in the US, these principles were grossly violated. The task of this paper is to critically examine the ethical implications of that study on future practices in biomedical research, and to suggest ways of ensuring that such practices comply with appropriate ethical values. Key Words Bioethics, Biomedical research, clinical research, Tuskegee Study, paternalism, morality Introduction From time to time human beings experience health challenges, whether physical or mental. On its part, medical practice has made considerable progress towards combating or controlling many of these challenges. It is through research that the nature, symptoms and effects of ailments can be ascertained and remedies discovered. Medical researchers engage in both therapeutic and non-therapeutic research. Therapeutic research is that carried out with the purpose of treating disease. On the other hand...
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...progress towards combating or controlling many of these challenges. It is through research that the nature, symptoms and effects of ailments can be ascertained and remedies discovered. Medical researchers engage in both therapeutic and non-therapeutic research. Therapeutic research is that carried out with the purpose of treating disease. On the other hand, non-therapeutic research is aimed at 76 Adebayo A. Ogungbure furthering the frontiers of knowledge about human health. Furthermore, researchers and physicians often use human beings as objects of scientific investigation, raising certain ethical concerns, including the issue of informed consent and how consent is obtained, selection of participants in research, the welfare of human subjects involved in a research project, what the goals of research ought to be, and what ought to constitute proper procedure for an ethical research. These issues are central to an aspect of applied ethics which is now commonly referred to as research ethics. The aim of research ethics is to ensure that research projects involving human subjects are carried out without causing harm to the subjects involved. In addition, it provides a sort of regulatory framework which ensures that human participants in research are not exploited either physically or psychologically. The need for ethical guidelines for biomedical research is expressed in some of the questions research ethicists are concerned about, including the following: • What are appropriate...
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...Bioethics- Tuskegee Syphilis Study BACKGROUND FACTS In the early 70s, the Washington Evening Star newspaper published this headline on its front page: "Syphilis Patients Died Untreated." (CDC) This headline revealed one of America's most dishonorable medical studies, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. From this very moment, the public knew the long-hidden truth about this notorious study. In 1932, the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) initiated the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. Their goal was to investigate stages in advancement of syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease caused by bacterium that may cause death if untreated. (CDC) Furthermore, the study wanted to investigate how syphilis affects blacks compared to whites. They hypothesized that whites experienced more neurological complications while blacks experience more cardiovascular complications. The study used 399 poor black sharecroppers from Macon County, Alabama with dormant syphilis. An additional 201 healthy, unaffected men that were part of the study served as control subjects. Many bioethical values were largely violated. The physicians conducting the study misled the men from the beginning of the experiment. They purposely told men that they had “bad blood” and that they would treat them. Instead, these men were given a placebo. Physicians made sure that they did not receive treatment or help from anyone else. The reward for this “therapy” was free meals, free medical examinations and free burial insurance...
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...Ethical Research Research ethics not only protect the rights of human subjects but also encompass a broader range of principles. The notorious Tuskegee study in Alabama that began in 1932and ended in1972 studied black men with syphilis. The study violated ethical principles in that informed consent was not obtained, confidentiality was violated and treatment was withheld when it became available. The study is well known, because of the tragedy it caused for many people and also because of the sheer lack of ethical consideration shown by the scientists concerned. The United States Public Health Service conducted a study for that began in 1932 and lasted until 1972, not the six months that was expected and is described as "the longest non-therapeutic experiment on human beings in medical history" (Brunner, 2009). The Tuskegee Syphilis Study was conducted from 1932 to 1972 around Tuskegee, Alabama. Six hundred poor, and mostly illiterate, African-American males, 400 of whom were infected with syphilis, were monitored for 40 years. Free medical examinations were given; however, subjects were not told about their diagnosis. Even though a cure (penicillin) became available in the 1950s, the study continued until 1972 with participants being denied proper treatment or given fake treatments and placebos, instead. In some cases, when subjects were diagnosed as having syphilis by other physicians, researchers intervened to prevent treatment. Many of the subjects died slow and painful...
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...between a. and a. What would constitute informed consent in the case of the Tuskegee Study? If such informed consent had been obtained from the subjects, would this remove all questions about whether the study was ethical? Informed consent to participate in the Tuskegee Study would require ensuring that the participants fully understood the purpose, nature, and potential risks and benefits of the study before giving their voluntary consent to participate. This would have included disclosing that the study aimed to observe the natural progression of syphilis without providing treatment, as well as explaining the potential...
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...In 1932, the rural town of Tuskegee was a mostly black town that was governed by whites. World War II had not began, though there was trouble brewing in Europe as these countries began to pacify the fiery German giants who would later commit unspeakable acts, one that horrified Americans who had little knowledge of what was going on in a little Alabama time all at the government’s behest. The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment began in 1932, after the venereal disease section of the PHS created a c study group at its national headquarters to study the sexually transmitted disease known as Syphillis. The man behind the plan was Dr. Taliaferro Clark, a senior officer in the PHS who planned only for the experiment to last for six to nine months, before treating the men and ending the study. He contacted Tuskegee University (then Tuskegee Institute) to gain their cooperation to expand the study into a real-word environment and study the effects. The PHS then invited poor and poorly uneducated African-American men to come to the Institute to receive free medical exams and treatment. They also provided meals and...
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...The Tuskegee Syphilis Study began in 1936 in Macon County, Alabama, at the Tuskegee Institute. Researchers at the institute conducted this study to follow the natural course of syphilis in black males. Before the study was put into progress, there was no known treatment for syphilis. In this study, there was a total of 600 men, 399 of which were infected with syphilis, and 201 who were not. These 201 men were used as the control group of the study. Most of these men were poor and uneducated sharecroppers that were living in Macon County at the time of the experiment ("About the USPHS Syphilis Study"). This experiment was originally supposed to last about six months, but continued for 40 years ("U.S. Public Health Service Syphilis Study at Tuskegee")....
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...that discusses unethical business research conduct that has resulted in individuals or a firm being convicted, or at least tried for, this conduct. Some examples include the following: • Asking inappropriate questions • Skewing research results • Failing to maintain participants’ confidential information • Using participant information for unintended purposes such as selling goods or services Summarize the article you researched. Write a 750-word paper in which you address the following questions: • What unethical research behavior was involved? • Who were the injured parties? • How has the unethical behavior affected the organization, the individual, and society? • How could the unethical behavior be avoided or resolved? In the 1932 case of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study was a 40-year project administered by the US Public Health Service in Macon County, Alabama. The study consisted of 400 men being promised free treatment for an epidemic of bad blood in their county. The treatment was withheld from the men and was never given. The study was tested on a group of African American men who were told they had bad blood and never received standard treatment for syphilis,. Syphilis is a sexual transmitted disease. It can lead to a range of painful, chronic and deadly symptoms, such as infection in the nerve-system, or cardiovascular-complications. Even-though the cure of penicillin was available the men were never informed of the research design or it's risk to them. What...
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...Tuskegee Syphilis Study was a very controversial research study conducted by the United States Public Health Service in collaboration with the Tuskegee University (then known as the Tuskegee Institute) in Macon County, Alabama between the years 1932 and 1972. The study was named the “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male” and the original intent was to study the effects of untreated syphilis on African-American men for a duration of six to nine months and then follow-up with a treatment plan. A total of 600 African American men were enrolled in the study, 399 men with syphilis and 201 men without the infection. Syphilis is a highly contagious disease caused by the bacteria Treponema pallidum transmitted sexually or congenitally...
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...Summary of Article African American men were targeted for a Syphilis study in 1932. It became one of the most unethical studies ever in United States history. This story became widely publicized in 1972 which caused the research to cease. Unethical research such as not disclosing the real reasons for the study left men sick and vulnerable. It eventually affected the men and their families. The effects of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study were felt for many years and many generations later. One positive outcome was the implementation of the National Research Act of 1974. The unethical acts could have been avoided by working from a “I treat you the way I want to be treated” philosophy. Medical research is usually considered life changing and for the better good of mankind because of positive advances that come from it. In 1932 when Caucasian doctors and the United States Public Health Service sponsored a study to research the effects of syphilis in African American men. This was not study for the better good of mankind. 400 African American men who already had contracted syphilis were enrolled in the study along with 200 uninfected men who served as control participants. “In the late 1940s, penicillin first became available to the general public as a cure for syphilis. However, the decision was made not to make it available to study participants, who were allowed to continue in the study without any treatment for their disease. They were continually supplied with placebos...
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...The Tuskegee Research Study on Syphilis Stephan J. Skotko University of Phoenix January 13, 2010 HCS-435 Ethics: Health Care and Social Responsibility Edward Casey Every person or family member who has faced a medical crisis during his or her lifetime has at one point hoped for an immediate cure, a process that would deter any sort of painful or prolonged convalescence. Medical research always has paralleled a cure or treatment. From the beginning of the turn of the 20th century the most unspeakable appalling atrocities against human beings was The Tuskegee Syphilis Study. One of the most horrendous breaches of ethics in The United States history is Tuskegee’s studies and associated research. . The study and the publicity that surrounded the study was one of the major influences leading to the organized arrangement of laws, rules and principles of the ethical treatment for human beings. Examples of which include; informed consent, patients personal autonomy, patients’ bill of rights, medical code of ethics, and limits to a practitioners professional autonomy. Miracle cures like penicillin and other antibiotics have proven the value of research. Many illnesses and diseases are currently under heavy research. Although not much research can give results that penicillin or other antibiotics have attained does not invalidate the necessity of research and the importance of it. There exist copious treatments...
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...Tuskegee Syphilis Study Dr. Joseph Costa, D.H.Sc, PA-C Health Policy and Management MPH 525 Jessie McCarty April 2013 Table of Contents Chapter Page 1. Tuskegee Syphilis Study 2 2. Tuskegee Basics 3 3. What Went Wrong? 4 Informed Consent 4 Vulnerable Populations 4 Medical Profession Pursued 5 4. Personal Opinion 7 5. Basics of Research 8 Informed Consent 8 Individual Autonomy 9 Beneficence 9 6. Current Policies 11 Policies 11 Exceptions 11 7. Problems with Waving Consent 13 Flexibility 13 Vulnerable Populations 13 Ethical Dilemmas 14 8. Conclusion 16 Chapter 1 Tuskegee Syphilis Study Throughout the years, numerous research studies have taken place. In the United States, on a daily basis thousands of research studies are being conducted. Some of these studies will greatly influence science, while others will make little impact. Historically, some studies have been remembered not for the results, but for ethical dilemmas surrounding the study. The Tuskegee syphilis study is a prime example of a study which made many people aware of the ethical problems surrounding research. The Tuskegee syphilis study made the government begin to analyze how research was performed in the country, and the study opened many eyes to what changes needed to be made. Analyzing the Tuskegee syphilis study allows for one to understand what went wrong with the study and how this study lead to great changes in the world...
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...Ethics Analysis Topics: The Tuskegee experiments. There are numerous ethical guidelines in Biomedical Research on human subjects. The increasing research in developing countries and the international guidelines released by the developed countries in 2002 had its focus on the observation of ethical norms for the protection of research subjects (Indian Council of Medical Research 9). The year 1932 was when the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) started its Tuskegee Syphilis Study (Biber 83). This study involved the inspection of untreated latent syphilis cases in human subjects and tried to find out the natural course of the disease. The sample for this study consisted of three hundred and ninety nine black males from Tuskegee, Alabama with late-stage syphilis and two hundred and one non-infected males. Along the years research has been undertaken without the consent of the subjects. The Weber State University website indicates their involvement in the formulation of research guidelines under the Institutional Review Board (IRB). Under the Public Health Service Act there is a regulation to protect human subjects of research and implement a guidance instruction on ethical issues. Three basic principles of ethics were formulated to protect human subjects in biomedical and behavioral research. One of the principle advocates for respect for persons which involves recognition of personal dignity. The second principle aims at ensuring that subjects are protected...
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