Tuskegee Syphilis Case Study

Tuskegee Syphilis Study
Student's Name
Institutional Affiliation
Tuskegee Syphilis Study
Some various experiments and studies have raised ethical questions. Tuskegee Syphilis Study is a classic case to evaluate ethical and rights standpoints regarding the concept of subjects in research or scientific experimental activities. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study is one of the centers of focus in moral discourses touching participants' protection in experimental studies or clinical trials,
The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male occurred when the known approach to the treatment of syphilis was unavailable. This study was conducted by the US Public Health Service (PHS) between 1932 and 1972, where 600 men were recruited as subjects in the study with the assurance of free medical care (Nix, 2017: Yearby, 2016). The experiment sought to determine if syphilis caused more cardiovascular than neurological damage. It also desired to confirm if the natural trajectory of syphilis in black men was substantially different from that in whites. The doctors running the study informed the participants with latent syphilis and a control group who did not have the disease that they were being managed for bad blood, a terminology that embodied a range of ailments. These subjects were primarily administered with placebo drugs like aspirin bismuth, mercury, and mineral supplements (Paul & Brookes,2015), even though penicillin was available as a recommended drug for treating syphilis in 1947 (Yearby, 2016). The researchers did not monitor and control disease progression nor inform the participants that they had syphilis transmitted via sexual intercourse. They did not provide any evidenced-based care for syphilis infections; this made subjects went blind, insane, and experienced adverse health outcomes, including complications and death. The participants in the study also infected spouses, and the infections were also passed to children. Tuskegee syphilis ended in 1972 when the study received heavy backlash due to its unethical approach, occasioning a legal suit against the US federal government, which led to an out-of-court settlement of $10 million in 1974. 
This study was considered unethical because it fails the fundamental tenets of experimental research's ethical and moral traditions. The Tuskegee Syphilis ...