Research without Empathy
In 1932, the Public Health Service, working with the Tuskegee Institute, began a study to record the natural history of syphilis in hopes of justifying treatment programs for blacks. It was called the "Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male." The study initially involved 600 black men, 399 with syphilis, 201 who did not have the disease. The study was conducted without patient knowledge or consent. Researchers told the men they were being treated for "bad blood," a local term used to describe several ailments, including syphilis, anemia, and fatigue. In truth, they did not receive the proper treatment needed to cure their illness. They didn’t even know they were in fact a part of a scientific study. In exchange for taking part in the study, the men received free medical exams, free meals, and burial cost coverage.
The study lasted 40 years before it was exposed by the media. In July 1972, an Associated Press reporter published an article about the study, stating: “For 40 years the U.S. Public Health Service has conducted a study in which human guinea pigs, denied proper medical treatment, have died of syphilis and its side effects. The Study was conducted to determine from autopsies what the disease does to the human body.” Public outcry was immediate and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare launched an investigation.
An advisory panel formed to review the experiment and decided that although the men had agreed to the study, it was still “ethically unjustified” given the risks and the lack of knowledge gained over four decades. The panel in October 1972 recommended an immediate end to the study, and it officially came to an end the next month. By the end of the experiment, 28 of the men had died directly of syphilis, 100 were dead of related complications, 40 of their wives had been infected, and 19 of their