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 and given maximum benefits while reducing harm. The third principle calls for justice in the distribution of benefits. The men who were involved in the Tuskegee study were not treated against syphilis. Even with the availability of antibiotics in the 1940’s the subjects were not administered with the drug which put their lives to great risk (Biber 83). Forty years later the study was ethically unjustified as only seventy four subjects were alive.

This study shows a certain degree of unethical issues. The subjects were not given an opportunity to give consent of their participation. The informed consent consists of information given to the subject about purpose of the study, risks involved, benefits to subjects, confidentiality and affirmation that participation is voluntary (Indian Council of Medical Research 12 ). In some cases where it is deemed mandatory for a research to be conducted on a subject who is unable to give consent, then such is done on his behalf by someone empowered to act on his behalf. In the Tuskegee study those who participated never volunteered. It was never mentioned to the subjects that the study was designed to discover syphilis. The principle of non-exploitation stipulates that research subjects should be remunerated due to their involvement in the research and should also be enlightened on the risks both physical and psychological and the moral consequences of the research regardless of their economic or social status (Indian Council of Medical Research 13). The study only incorporated black people from Alabama who were exploited by being cheated that they would be given special treatment. Although there was spinal taps which could be used for treatment no drug was administered. This stereotypical behavior by the doctors is unethical and exploitative to the black males who were lured into the study due to their vulnerable situation (Biber 84). Another principle calls for risk minimization where caution is taken throughout the research to ensure that the research subjects are exposed to minimal risks (Indian Council of Medical Research 14). The subjects of the Tuskegee study were not given prior knowledge on the risks that were ahead of them. The doctors never informed the participants that they would not be treated rather they were just to be used to determine the nature of syphilis. Over the entire period of the study, many research subjects died due to acute syphilis which came up as a result of lack of treatment. Therefore, professional competence should be upheld in any biomedical research. Those carrying out the research should be competent and qualified acting in total integrity and impartiality. The doctors who carried out the Tuskegee study acted in a partial way only choosing Black males for the research. There also lacked a quality of integrity in there work as they initially stated to the participants that there would be special treatment which was not later given. Even with the knowledge that spinal taps could treat the participants, it was not administered (Biber 4). There should be considerable effort to ensure that individuals called forward to participate in a research are selected in such a way that risks and benefits are equally stretched out. Research should not be a stepping stone towards racism. The vulnerable people should not be used to benefit the affluent (Indian Council of Medical Research 36). The Tuskegee study promoted exploitation of the vulnerable and created more risks on their lives which even led to death of the subjects over the four decade period. During the time of the Tuskegee experiment the Institutional Review Board (IRB) was non-existent. It was later set up in the 1960’s to develop official rules and oversee goals of researchers (Biber 88). It is therefore a condition that researchers conducting biomedical experiments present a protocol that gives an outline of precise steps to be followed while conducting the study using human subjects (Biber 90). The obtaining of informed consent by the subject usually hits the researchers with extreme force.

Works cited

Hesse Biber. The Ethics of Social Research: The Tuskegee Syphilis Study, 2005. Print

Indian Council on Medical Research. Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research on Human Participants. New Delhi 2006. Print

Weber State University. Human Subject IRB http://catsis.weber.edu/irb accessed 20th September 2011