The Tuskegee Experiment
Find information from your text and/or from other reputable sources. Provide a brief, yet thorough overview of the experiment and the ethical problems involved in the scenario. Cite your sources.
Discuss which of the three major principles from the Belmont Report (1. Respect for Persons, 2. Benficience, 3. Justice) are violated in the situation you chose. Discuss all that are applicable. This requires that you not only identify the principle but explain how/why it was violated.
Discuss how the requirement of Informed Consent is essential to preventing the ethical issues you have identified and how it’s requirement in your chosen situation would now protect a participant.
Sample Answer
The Tuskegee Syphilis Study: A Case Study in Ethical Failure
The Tuskegee Syphilis Study, conducted by the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) between 1932 and 1972, stands as a stark example of ethical violations in research. The study involved 600 African American men, 399 of whom had syphilis, and 201 who did not. The men were recruited with misleading information and were not adequately informed about the study’s purpose or the risks involved. Initially, the study aimed to observe the natural progression of untreated syphilis. However, even after penicillin became a standard treatment for syphilis in the 1940s, the men were not offered the treatment. Instead, they were actively prevented from receiving it, under the guise of “special free treatment” for their “bad blood.” Researchers used deceptive tactics to prevent the men from seeking outside medical care, which would have likely led to their syphilis being treated. Many of the men suffered severe health consequences, including neurological damage, blindness, heart disease, and death. The study continued for 40 years, long after effective treatment became available. (Brandt, 1978).