Tuskagee Syphilis Experiment Essay

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Tuskagee syphilis experiment is a very controversial research conducted at the Tuskegee institute in Macon County, Alabama when Robert Russa Moton. Moton was appointed as the principal of Tuskegee Institiute after the death of first principal Dr. Booker T Washington. In 1932 the United States Public Health Services was responsible for monitoring, identifying, ways to treat sexually transmitted diseases in all US citizens. Public health service was sponsored by Rosenwald Fund; identified Macon County, Alabama had the highest rate of male population infected with the Syphilis. So the Tuskegee Institute was approached to study the effects of untreated syphilis on a black male population for duration of six to nine months and then follow-up …show more content…

The original study which was proposed for 9 months went on to 40 year study. Impoverished African American males were enrolled, patient’s informed consent was not obtained, and researcher misguided the participant informing that they were treated for bad blood. They were promised free medical services, meals, and free burial insurance for participating in the study. When the study began the treatment for Syphilis was with mercury and bismuth. As proposed the treatment for Syphilis was initiated for the participants with mercury and bismuth with cure rate less than 30%. Due to great depression the funds for the study were cut, however the researchers decided to follow the men …show more content…

It could be argued that the study couldn’t have been done other way as treatment was not available at the time the study began and in order to get the participants complaint with the study, was to lie about the study and it might have been an uncommon practice to obtain medical consent from the patient for the study. The institute also supported this study as long as it gets the share of the credit. In 1945 Penicillin became the standard of treatment for Syphilis. Despite this the participant were never offered this treatment and were also never informed about the

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