Analysis Of Miss Evers Boys

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Living Proof, Miss Evers Boys, You Don’t Know Jack and the Ethical Issues Each Case Faced
Wendy E. West
Brown Mackie College
July 27, 2015 Abstract
This paper explores the ethical issues that were faced in three different movies. The first movie, Living Proof, is based on the true story of breast cancer research and the drug Herceptin. This movie deals with the issues of funding the project and the criteria needed to be accepted into the trial. The movie follows the story of seven women with breast cancer that campaigned to receive the drug Herceptin. It is a classic example of the problems that arise with effective but expensive new medicines and the limited budget of the National Health Service. The second movie, Miss Evers Boys, is based on the true story of the Tuskegee Experiment which was conducted on black males with syphilis. This movie deals with the ethical issues of the lack of voluntary informed consent, confidentiality, deception, and the ethical issue of human experimentation by the government. It follows the story of nurse Eunice Evers and the ethical issues that she faces during the experiment as well as the progression of the disease of the men in a folk music group known as Miss Evers’ Boys. The third movie, You Don’t Know Jack, is
The federal government launched the study in 1932 in order to find out if blacks reacted to the disease the same as whites. The study selected 412 men infected with syphilis and faked long term treatment even though they already had the cure, penicillin. The men in the study were deceived with placebo and liniments and instead of being told that they were being treated for the disease, the men were told that they were being treated for “bad blood.” Caleb Humphries is one of the original men that was included in the study and the future love interest of Eunice

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