The Belmont Report

They used these participants for study. This study lasted 40 years. In 1979, the Ethical Principles and Guidelines for the Protection of Human Subjects of Research were published (The Belmont Report). The Belmont Report proposed the following three basic principles for the evaluation of research involving human subjects:

The Tuskegee Syphilis experiment (The official name was Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male) began in the 1930’s. It was an experiment on African Americans to study syphilis and how it affected the body and killed its victims done by Tuskegee Institute U.S. Public Health Service researchers. The initial purpose of the Syphilis study “was to record the natural history of syphilis in Blacks” (Tuskegee University, “About the USPHS Syphilis Study,” par. 2). The study was necessary because syphilis was a disease that didn’t yet have an official cure (when the study began in the 30’s). There were 600 men in all; 399 had syphilis and 201 served as a control group for the experiment. The

Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment was done in the campus of Tuskegee Institute, Alabama between the year of 1932 and 1947. It is designed to discover the natural history of syphilis among the African-American population in hopes of justifying treatment programs for blacks

The Tuskegee syphilis experiment was an infamous clinical study conducted between 1932-1972 in Macon Country, Alabama by the U.S Public Health Service. The purpose was to study the natural progression of untreated syphilis in rural African American men who thought they were receiving free health care from the U.S government; about four hundred African American men were denied. The doctors that were involved in this study had a shifted mindset; they were called “racist monsters”; “for the most part, doctors and civil servants simply did their jobs. Some merely followed orders, others worked for the glory of science” (Heller) The men that were used for the study got advantage of, especially those

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study was the experiment conducted by US public health service among 600 black men to study about the disease named syphilis from 1932 to 1972 (CDC,2016).The participants were poor rural African-American living in Macon County ,Alabama. The study was done to find out the effects of untreated syphilis on those men. The participants were introduced the disease with the name -Bad Blood by the researchers(Jones,p.5). The researchers ran the experiment for over 40 years. During this period, the participants were kept unknown about the causes and treatment of the syphilis .The treatment of syphilis was found but the researchers did not apply on the participants(Tuskegee,2016). The Tuskegee Syphilis Study was unethical and

The book BAD BLOOD: THE TUSKEGEE SYPHILIS EXPERIMENT by James H. Jones was a very powerful compilation of years of astounding research, numerous interviews, and some very interesting positions on the ethical and moral issues associated with the study of human beings under the Public Health Service (PHS). "The Tuskegee study had nothing to do with treatment … it was a nontherapeutic experiment, aimed at compiling data on the effects of the spontaneous evolution of syphilis in black males" (Jones pg. 2). Jones is very opinionated throughout the book; however, he carefully documents the foundation of those opinions with quotes from letters and medical journals.

Was the Tuskegee Study ethically justified as research that would produce scientific knowledge about syphilis?

According the to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment was conducted in 1932 by the Public Health, which included 600 black men as their test subjects. Of the 600 men, 399 had syphilis and 201 didn’t (CDC). The men were told that they were being treated for “Bad Blood” and didn’t have any knowledge of being included in a study (CDC). In exchange for their services, researchers offered the men free medical exams, burial insurance, and free meals (CDC). The study was called “ The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male” (CDC).

The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment is also known as the “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male” which began in 1932. This experiment was lead by the U.S Public Health Services and the Tuskegee University in Alabama. I will identify the ethical problems associated with the Tuskegee Experiment. I will also describe how I would improve the experiment for the participants.

The Belmont Report: Ethical principles and guidelines for the protection of human subjects of research. Retrieved December 13, 2011, from hhs.gov/ohrp/humansubjects/guidance/belmont.html

Just by reading the table of contents from the Belmont Report, one can point out different topics that are directly related to the Tuskegee Syphilis study. For example, regarding the ethical principles and guidelines for research involving human subjects, the Belmont Report discusses about the boundaries between research and practice. The Tuskegee Syphilis study promised free care to enroll people in the study, when in reality the research study was observing the natural progression of untreated syphilis in rural African-American men. The Belmont report describes that practice refers “to interventions that are designed solely to enhance the well-being of an individual patient or client and that have a reasonable expectation of success”1, it

I believe the guidelines put forth in the Belmont Report and implemented into the Common Rule are necessary to ensure the safety of human research subjects. These rules are designed to protect both the research subject(s) and the scientists/doctors conducing the research.

The first ethical principle stated by the Belmont Report is respect for persons. “Respect for persons incorporates at least two ethical convictions: first, that individuals should be treated as autonomous agents, and second, that persons with diminished autonomy are entitled to protection” (The Belmont Report). The researcher must respect the subjects decisions and be obliged to allow them to take part of the experiment voluntarily. The second

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study took place over a time period of almost fifty years. During the investigation, John Heller, Director of the Venereal Disease unit for the PHS was interviewed, one of his comments was; “The men’s status did not warrant ethical debate. They were subjects, not patients; clinical material not people” (Tuskegee University). The way these men were treated and looked upon and

In 1981 the U.S. Department for Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) codified the ethical principles of the Belmont Report into a set of federal regulations. This has become known as the 45 code of federal regulations part 46 (45 CFR part 46). These regulations provide an outline for documenting informed consent; the actions of the institutional review board (IRB); and regulations for protecting vulnerable people.