Question

what were the main social issues with ethical implications involved in this study?....identify and explain your understanding of the question

ARCH NOTE: TUSKEGEE SYPHILIS STUDY During the late 1920s in the United State United States, syphilis rates were extremely high in some areas. The private Rosenwald Foundation teamed with the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) to begin enorts to control the disease using the drug neosalvarsan, an arsenic compound. Macon County, Alabama, particularly the town of luskegee, was targeted because of its high rate of syphilis, as identified through a survey. However, the Great Depression derailed the plans, and the private foundation withdrew from the work. The USPHS repeated the Rosenwald survey in Macon County and identified a syphilis rate of 22% among African American men in the county and a 62% rate of congenital syphilis cases. The natural history (progression) of syphilis had not been studied yet in the United States, and the surgeon general suggested that 399 African American men with syphilis in Tuskegee should be observed, rather than treated, and compared with a group of 200 African American men who were uninfected. The men were not told about the particular details of their disease. They underwent painful, nontherapeutic spinal taps to provide data about the natural history of syphilis and were told these procedures were treatments for "bad blood."The men were given free meals, medical treatment for diseases other than their syphilis, and free burials. Even after penicillin was discovered in the 1940s, the men were not offered treatment. In fact, the USPHS researchers arranged to keep the uninformed study participants out of World War II because the men would be tested for syphilis, treated with penicillin, and lost from the study. The unethical research continued for 40 years, from 1932 to 1972. During the 40 years of research, an astonishing number of articles about the study were published in medical journals, and no attempt was made to hide the surreptitious terms of the research. No one intervened to stop the travesty. Finally, a medical reporter learned of the study, and the ethical issues were exposed. After reading this chapter and researching more information on the internet about the Tuskegee research, especially the contribution of Nurse Evers, answer the following questions: " What were the main social issues with ethical implications involved in this study?

Answer 1

1. The participants were not treated respectfully. They were lied to and information (such as a cure to their disease) was withheld. Informed consent was not given.

2. The participants were harmed. They were not told about a treatment for the disease that, in later years of the study, could be easily cured.

3. The researchers targeted a disadvantaged social group. All of the men in the study were poor and African American.