Miss Evers' Boys and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Essay

In Miss Evers Boys, one can understand the misfortunate treatment that has occurred within medical history. The Tuskegee study indeed violated every aspect of human dignity, rights, informed consent, justice, beneficence, and much more. No individual whether they are black or white should ever receive the unjust treatment and harm that these men of color were put through. There must be limits and laws when conducting researching that were not evident in this study.

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The movie begins with Miss Evers, a black nurse, who is attempting to justify the medical study known as the Tuskegee study. The study was based on untreated African American's infected with syphilis (Booth et al. 71). She depicted the survey as an advantage to the colored community and emphasized that the government was offering medical treatment to the colored, free of charge; this was a first-time occurrence. She seemed to try to decrease harm to the men of Macon County and look out for the good of the individuals. Miss Evers developed a close relationship with the men involved in the study, as she reached out to them within the community about taking advantage of the free treatment. In the eyes of the colored community, this was portrayed as an excellent opportunity for their health; however, the study, as well as the people involved, violated many aspects of the research process.

The men that were treated were told they were being treated for "bad blood," and the actual name of the disease was hidden from them. Before the study began, the white doctor explained the medical treatment being given to the men of color. However, he explained the study in medical terminology, which was something these men could not understand in reality. This led to the exploitation of those men to appoint where many of them died. The men of color involved in the experiment were completely stripped of their justice, as well as rights. The idea of deception was used to get these men to participate in this medical "treatment." One of the men received a certificate, as well as money, from the government for his participation in the study. However, the treatment he was given was hurting him instead of helping him. This does not allow the participant to make an informed decision, neither morally nor ethically.

This experiment breached every aspect of respect for human dignity in healthcare. Although she knew it was unethical and unjust, Miss Ever lied to them about their actual treatment when they reached out to get the medical assistance at hand. She needed to make everything look as usual so that the men would return for further treatments. She continued to use terms such as "bad blood" and "back shots," spinal taps, to cover up the actual medical terminology and treatment. In 1940, Penicillin became available for treatment, yet the men were denied this treatment during the study (Ozbek Guven 56). Miss Evers continued to tell the men that the lack of treatment was for the greater good when she very well knew how progressively sick they were getting. The experiment is immoral and unjust in every single aspect. No human and their rights should ever be taken advantage of the way that this movie depicted. No apology, amount of money, or sentencing could ever compensate for the manner that each of these individuals was treated and used.

One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest; Nurse Ratched shows similar behaviors as those of Miss Evers. Her treatment and care of patient were unethical, and she used to control the patients to ensure that she violated their rights and feelings. Even director Milos Foreman says she is crazy and dangerous. She insists that she has to commit Mac even when her superiors defer with her. She arranges a lobotomy for Mac in an attempt to win and in the process destroying Mac's ability to function at all. Due to the need to win, Nurse Ratched neutralizes Mac taking his humanity away (Nitzsche et al. 33). She treats her patients as subordinates, humiliating them and in the process de-masculinizing them without care. She withheld patients' privileges such as cigarettes, tub privileges and right to watch baseball which causes anger and hostility among the patients.

Conclusion

Thus it is worth noting that humanity in medical care is essential. The nurses and doctors should observe ethics when giving health services to avoid the risk of putting the lives of patients in harm's way. Human beings should not be used for medical experiment no matter the monetary remuneration neither should they be denied their fundamental right to better health care. Thus medical humanities have a significant role to play to ensure that medical care does not risk the lives of patients or infringe on their rights.

Works Cited

Booth, Daniel, et al. Susceptible to Kindness: Miss Evers' Boys and the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. Multimedia Collections & Services, U at Buffalo Libraries, 2012.

Nitzsche, Jack, et al. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Ozbek Guven, Gamze. "MISS EVERS 'BOYS FILM ANALYSIS "We will make history with this work......"." Turkish Journal of Bioethics, vol. 5, no. 1, 2018, pp. 32-34.