Good The Tuskegee Syphilis Study Essay Example

One of the main reasons that perpetuated the Tuskegee Institute’s study was the inadequacy of information about syphilis. Inadequate information then created uncertainty in terms of the appropriate diagnosis and treatment of disease. Lack of information then about syphilis was the foremost reason used by researchers such as the Tuskegee Institute to continue the study on the disease. The study continued despite the use of penicillin to treat syphilis.
The Tuskegee Institute conducted “The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in Negro Male” in 1932 following the results of recent studies showing the high incidence rate of syphilis among African-American males in Macon County, Alabama. The Tuskegee Institute, under the mandate of the United States Public Health Service (PHS) sought to study the progression of syphilis among African-Americans (616 African-American men, about 67 percent of which had syphilis). The main issue was that the researchers never informed the participants that they had syphilis nor provided them with medicine to treat their illness.
Despite the ethical issues that made the study questionable, the Tuskegee Institute continued the study not only because of the PHS’ mandate but also because of the widespread support of the medical community. Furthermore, one of the health practitioners in charge – Eunice Rivers – as well as others in the study strictly implemented the plan of research. Rivers was African-American and she played a role in convincing African-Americans in the community to participate in the study. Unethical practices included depriving the participants of proper treatment for syphilis, and misinforming the participants about the nature of the study. The study resulted in the death of majority of the participants and the transmission of the disease to the participants’ family and friends.
The Tuskegee Syphilis Study has brought about reforms in experimentation and the involvement of human subjects. Due to the controversy surrounding the study, Congress conducted hearings and in 1974 implemented legislation that formed the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research. The Commission was responsible for ensuring that researchers and experts followed ethical rules and guidelines when working with human subjects during testing.