Racism and Research the Tuskegee Syphilis Study Essay

Words: 1088
Pages: 5
Open Document
The Case of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study | | This essay examines the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, wherein for 40 years (1932-1972) hundreds of black men suffering from advanced syphilis were studied but not treated. The 40-year study was controversial for reasons related to ethical standards; primarily because researchers knowingly failed to treat patients appropriately after the 1940s validation of penicillin as an effective cure for the disease they were studying. To explore the role of the racism in the controversial study, this essay analyzes the article written by Allan M. Brandt. | |

The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment (also known as the Tuskegee Syphilis Study or Public Health Service Syphilis Study) was an infamous clinical …show more content…
By not doing so and allowing this study to go on for forty years, this has become one of the most unethical and inhumane events in the United States. The risk to the patients in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study was death, and no amount of scientific data was worth the lives of hundreds of men.
There is no doubt that this study was unethical and inhumane, but I do not agree that it was racial. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study was conducted with subjects who were all African American. This can lead to the belief that the researchers were racist and used African Americans because their lives had less worth than white individuals. These are very valid realizations that could possibly be true but what is interesting is the use of African Americans for recruiting and also African Americans helping to conduct the study. The PHS even expressed that by using African American physicians they could more easily gain the cooperation from the African American studies. If this was a racist study why would African Americans support a study that devalued their own race?
Another ironic fact about racism within the Tuskegee Syphilis Study was that the title of the study itself came from the Tuskegee Institute which was a black university that was founded by Booker T. Washington. When recruiting subjects, leaders within the black community were used to gain the confidence and trust of the men used in the study. For a study that is believed to be so racist, it is
Show More

Related Documents: Racism and Research the Tuskegee Syphilis Study Essay

Tuskegee Legacy

The Lasting Legacy of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study Passed down from generation to generation, African Americans have recounted the horror stories concerning the humiliation and abuse caused by the medical community. Leading further to a culture untrusting of those who have taken the sacred Hippocratic oath. In the book Medical Apartheid author Harriet Washington uses the term “Black iatrophobia” to define African American culture as fearful of medicine; this fear is attributed to an extensive history…

Words 1105 - Pages 5

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study

Clinton apologized for the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, the 40-year government study (1932 to 1972) in which 399 Black men from Macon County, Alabama, were deliberately denied effective treatment for syphilis in order to document the natural history of the disease. The continuing shadow cast by the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and efforts to improve the overall health status of Black Americans spurred the push for an apology by the federal government." The legacy of the study at Tuskegee," the president spoke…

Words 1587 - Pages 7

Comparing The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment And The Movie Get Out !

essay is to make a connection between the Tuskegee syphilis experiment and the movie Get Out! There are two different concepts that I would like to explore. I would like to relate them together to show the similarities between the two ideas. The Tuskegee syphilis experiment was very real, while the other scenario was hypothetical. I find “Get Out!” to be very intriguing and suspenseful. I hope to shed light on the underlying themes of exploitation, racism, and manipulation that resonate in both narratives…

Words 242 - Pages 1

The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment

The Tuskegee Study was initiated in 1932 by the U.S. Public Health Service. The experiment took place in Macon County, Alabama and it was so they could determine the natural course of untreated, latent syphilis in black males. "The research itself took place on the campus of Tuskegee Institute," (About the USPHS Syphilis Study). Syphilis is a disease that starts as a small sore but spreads through time. The Tuskegee study used 200 uninfected men and 400 syphilitic men who didn't receive penicillin…

Words 1247 - Pages 5

Tuskegee Syphilis Research Paper

Simmons The Tuskegee Syphilis Study was one of the worst research crimes using humans as test subjects inhumane research studies in American medicine in the 20th century. “Eventually, it included autopsy. It did not include treatment either for syphilis or secondary problems including heart disease” (Edgar, 1992). For forty years doctors watched as their “experiment” took twenty-eight…

Words 1279 - Pages 6

English Paper

Collaborative Research Paper Regarding 'Night Doctors' The Lacks family was justified in their suspicion of the John Hopkins hospital and the medical establishment, because of Eugene Saenger’s experiment concerning the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and the 'rumor' of the "Night Doctors" in the John Hopkins Hospital. Even though the cause of the Tuskegee Syphilis study was to find the cure for syphilis, the way in which he tried to solve this was one of the worst ways possible. After all, sometimes the cause does not…

Words 646 - Pages 3

Scientific Racism

and scientific research in the United States, often funded by governmental agencies, has a deep and intricate history with using minorities for unethical and controversial research. These experiments effected racial relations, as health care policy regarding race. Unfortunately this is an issue that has been plaguing the United States for hundreds of years, from the beginning of scientific racism to the prolonged effects of medical experimentation. Scientific Racism Scientific racism is a phenomenon…

Words 1506 - Pages 7

Non Therapeutic Research

that we tend to face. It is through the great use of research, that treatments and cures are discovered. Medical researchers conduct therapeutic and non-therapeutic research. Therapeutic research has a sole purpose to treating any disease. Then there’s non-therapeutic research which is conducted for furthering knowledge about human health. Researchers and physicians often use human beings as objects of scientific investigation. This type of research raises concerns, including how consent is obtained…

Words 1085 - Pages 5

Miss Ever's Boys Film critique Essay

Miss Ever’s Boys is a docudrama film that was produced by the HBO cable network. The movie explores ethical and social issues involved in the infamous Tuskegee Study. The study was about untreated black men with syphilis. The U.S. Public Health Service is said to have conducted a study among 600 black Americans from the years 1932 to 1972. This study was done in Macon County. This paper will exclusively explore the critique the Miss Ever’s Boys film using ethical frameworks. The ethical framework includes…

Words 1010 - Pages 5

African American Culture Research Paper

Abstract The concept of Black culture arose as a result of prior experiences endured by African American people. This is exclusive to key historical events like slavery, colonization, and the civil rights movements, to name a few. Slavery played a critical role in the development of negative attitudes amongst African Americans regarding many aspects of life. Particularly the government, mortality rates, and health practices. Many ingredients used in African American dishes have African origins such…

Words 1739 - Pages 7