Tuskegee Experiment: A Controversial Study of Research Ethics - Essay Sample

Introduction

The Tuskegee experiment was funded by the federal government to track the spread of syphilis among black males in the state of Alabama. The study was controlled by the United States Public Health Service, and the actual research happened in the Tuskegee Institute. The experiment began in 1932 and went on for four decades. The Tuskegee experiment has been used in contemporary times by research ethicists as a referencing case on how not to carry out experiments (Nix, 2017). This is because the experiment was abusive to the rights and dignity of the participants, resulting in the death of some participants, ill health, and other adverse effects that affected both the subjects of the experiment, their families and the communities that they came from.

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When the experiment began in 1932, the main aim was to establish the cause for the latent and untreated syphilis in black males in Macon County, Alabama. Four hundred black men infected with syphilis were used in the experiment, with 200 being used as the control group. The experiment had its first findings published in 1936, and the publications were released every four years up to 1960. Despite the invention of penicillin in the 1950s, the men in the experiment were not put through the penicillin therapy that would rid them of their syphilis. Instead, the United States Public Health Service prevented their treatment in a bid to protect their experiment and keep on monitoring the men under experiment (Park, 2017). The decision was further strengthened by the CDC in 1969, when they allowed for the experiment to continue, despite the obvious suffering that the subjects were experiencing. It was only when the details of the experiment were leaked to the public in 1972 that the experiment was stopped. By the time it was finished, only 74 of the subjects were alive, and it is estimated that between 28 and 100 of the dead ones had died from advanced effects of syphilis on their body.

The experiment was carried out by the United States Public Health Service to establish if there was a direct link between syphilis and cardiovascular diseases. The experiment was able to acquire its subjects through false promises of free medical care for the participants. The study also sought to see if the cardiovascular damage caused by syphilis was more harmful to the subjects than the neurological damage suffered by the victims of syphilis. Furthermore, the study sought to establish if the natural course taken by syphilis in the black males was different from the one suffered by white males (Park, 2017). The test subjects were not informed that they were suffering from syphilis, but rather that they had `bad blood,' which was a term used to describe the existence of a wide range of diseases.

The men were also not informed that what they suffered from was transmitted sexually. Therefore their sexual lives remained active, posing the risk of further spread of the disease in the society they lived in and beyond. Treatment of the disease was part of the original plan for the experiment. However, when the patients did not respond to the medication administered, the board responsible for the trial decided on following the test subjects to their death, without offering any medical intervention. This being so, the experiment's founders sought to protect their experiment to the point of denying their subjects access to treatment of the disease, despite the invention of penicillin providing a solution to the issue, and voiding the need for the experiment.

The Tuskegee experiment gravely violated the ethical standards of an experiment that is to be conducted. First, the research lacked informed consent, whereby, although the test subjects gave their consent to be part of the experiment, some crucial information was withheld from them. Facts such as the disease they were suffering from should have been brought up so that the testees could make an informed decision on their participation. Secondly, the experiment was unethical due to the racism it expressed (Rahman, 2016).

While it sought to establish the effects of untreated syphilis and the course that syphilis took in black males as compared to white males, there were no white participants in the experiment, raising the question of whether the experiment sought answers or to confirm their racist notions. The racist assumptions further led the facilitators of the experiment to research the sexuality and the sexual activities of the black men involved in the society by withholding information that the disease they suffered from was sexually transmitted. This also violated the code of ethics governing the need for full disclosure and provision of information to the test subjects.

By withholding information, the experiment caused a health scare in the area where the experiment was carried out and also the country as well, since the men under the experiment continued with their sexual lives and activities, unaware that they were spreading a venereal disease to the public (Rahman, 2016). The experiment further violated the ethics of experiments as well as the moral ethics of society by denying the test subjects the right to medication even when the medication was available. The experiment aimed to help in formulating a solution for syphilis. Therefore the body experimenting should have stopped the experiment when the use of penicillin was found useful in the cure of syphilis. Instead of stopping the experiment and allowing the use of penicillin, the experiment body denied the subjects access or the use of penicillin, and this led to the death of about 100 of the subjects from the effects of advanced syphilis in their bodies.

Due to the effects of the Tuskegee experiment, which ended in the deaths of some participants, there were some psychological effects suffered. First, the experiment resulted in resistance to the participation of people, especially African-Americans in medical tests, since they now believed that the researches had ulterior motives that would lead to harm on them and their communities. Additionally, the researchers created a sense of racism, with anger and mistrust being some of the reactions directed to the white people in American society (Corts & Tatum, 2018).

The racist notions and ideas that drove the experiment led to the racist reactions it received since the people felt that the Tuskegee experiment was not a medical experiment, but rather an attempt to infect the black people in America with syphilis and killing them. Psychologically the effects of the experiment led to the mistrust towards medical practitioners that is experienced up to date by the African-American since they feel that their conditions will be used as medical experiments, and their well-being prioritized last on the list. Finally, the experiment had an overall negative effect on the willingness of people, in general, to sign up for medical experiments, since they feel that the tests have ulterior motives that they may not be aware of, which could lead to the parties suffering or even dying in the long run.

References

Corts, D. P., & Tatum, H. E. (2018). Ethics in Psychological Research: A Practical Guide for the Student Scientist. SAGE Publications.Nix, E. (2017). Tuskegee Experiment: The infamous syphilis study. History stories.

Park, J. (2017). Historical Origins of the Tuskegee Experiment: The Dilemma of Public Health in the United States. Korean Journal of Medical History, 26(3), 545-578.

Rahman, M. A. (2016). Ethics in medical research. Journal of Dhaka Medical College, 25(2), 80-81.