Tuskegee Syphilis Study Essay
"Associate yourself with people of good quality, for it is better to be alone than in bad company". I can only wonder if it was "people of good quality" such as Dr Taliaferro Clark, the person most commonly attributed with leading the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, to whom Booker Taliaferro(T.) Washington was referring when he spoke those eloquent words so long ago. Doubtful really, as the years 1932-1972, the duration of the Public Health Service Syphilis Study, resulted in one of the greatest injustices ever -------------- upon a people by its own government, a true "black eye" on the face of the American Medical research.
As A result of A 1930 venereal disease control project survey identifying Macon County, Alabama as having the highest proportion of syphilis cases among the six southern states examined, in 1933 the venereal disease section of the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) initiated a study to examine the destructive effects on the human body of the spirochetal bacterium, Treponema Pallidum commonly known as Syphilis, if untreated and left unmolested. Initially the study was welcomed, as it intended to benefit public health in this impoverished, depressed region as evidenced by the participation by such notable institutions as the Tuskegee institute, founded by the aforementioned Booker T. Washington, who lent …show more content…
From the original 299, twenty eight died directly related to syphilis and 100 more died of related complications. Sadly, due to the egregious care provided, 40 or the participants wives had been infected and 19 of there children were born with a congenital form of the disease. Although a $1.8 billion dollar class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of the sufferers, the participants of this wholly unethical study were awarded no more than $37,500 apiece while the heirs of the deceased were awarded a paltry $15,000, hardly sufficient restitution for the damage
As A result of A 1930 venereal disease control project survey identifying Macon County, Alabama as having the highest proportion of syphilis cases among the six southern states examined, in 1933 the venereal disease section of the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) initiated a study to examine the destructive effects on the human body of the spirochetal bacterium, Treponema Pallidum commonly known as Syphilis, if untreated and left unmolested. Initially the study was welcomed, as it intended to benefit public health in this impoverished, depressed region as evidenced by the participation by such notable institutions as the Tuskegee institute, founded by the aforementioned Booker T. Washington, who lent …show more content…
From the original 299, twenty eight died directly related to syphilis and 100 more died of related complications. Sadly, due to the egregious care provided, 40 or the participants wives had been infected and 19 of there children were born with a congenital form of the disease. Although a $1.8 billion dollar class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of the sufferers, the participants of this wholly unethical study were awarded no more than $37,500 apiece while the heirs of the deceased were awarded a paltry $15,000, hardly sufficient restitution for the damage