Syphilis In 600 Men

857 Words4 Pages
In 1932 The Public Health Service promised 600 black men medical care, meals, and free burial insurance if they participated in a study were they were going to be treated for what they called “bad blood”, a term used to describe several illnesses, including syphilis, anemia and fatigue. Men were offer what most Negroes could wish for in terms of medical care and survivors insurance and that was the reason why 600 men decided to participate. Out of the 600 men 400 were infected with syphilis before the study began and 200 were disease free. What the participants did not know was that there was no proven treatment and they were going to be victims of a study that was trying to find the long-term effects of untreated syphilis in blacks, not in…show more content…
Researches just recorded what they observed in the ill black men but would not do anything about it, they would just watch the participants die slowly. Even after penicillin was discovered to be the cure for syphilis, researchers refused to give it to the infected patients, “subjects were denied antibiotic therapy when it became clear that penicillin was safe and effective treatment for syphilis”. Even after the cure for syphilis was discovered, doctors decided to continue the study for another 25 years without treating those suffering from the disease. Researchers lied to the participants to encourage them to stay and keep being part of the experiment. Failure to inform the participants that treatment for their disease was available lead to the untrust of medicine from may black people. In an article that she published Vanessa said ”legacy of this experiment with it failure to educate the participants and treat them adequately laid the foundation for todays pervasive sense of black distrust of public health authorities”. Ronald agreed to this statement by saying “ Fears that they will be uses as guinea pigs like the men in the Tuskegee Syphilis study have lead to African Americans with AIDS to refuse to receive any kind of…show more content…
All the men that participated in this experiment were unaware of the true nature of the experiment. The true nature of the experiment was kept from the subjects to ensure their cooperation. Like Skloot mentions in the book, “Doctors offered the men incentives to participate: free physical treatment for minor ailments, and a guarantee that a burial stipend would be paid to their survivors”. This shows one of the ways in which disgraceful experiment failed. Researcher failed to inform the participants about the benefits and risk of the experiment, the research procedures, and the reasons for the research. Doctors involved in this experiment also failed to give the appropriate treatment to the participants even after it was discovered that penicillin was the cure for syphilis. Participants had no idea of what was happening with their bodies. While they thought they were receiving treatment for their disease, doctors would just watch them die
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