Tuskegee Syphilis Essay

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Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male Forty years ago, 600 of African Americans were horrifically involved in the Tuskegee syphilis experiments. In Macon County, Alabama illiterate black men were taken advantage of and were treated like objects instead of human beings. These victims were told they needed to be treated for having “bad blood”, including fatigue, anemia and syphilis. Instead, they just being observed because of their sexually transmitted disease, syphilis. Syphilis is an STD/bacterial infection that starts off with a painless small sore the can eventually end up covering the whole body and can damage your heart, brain and other organs. Even today, if the infection is not treated can be very life threatening …show more content…
At first, many did not believe that they were going to receive this help for free because never before in the past were they treated with respect and empathy. As soon as the study started, rules had been broken. One the participants were recruited, the researchers tested the participants for specific symptoms those with syphilis would have, but instead of telling them specifically that they had syphilis, the doctors told them they just had “bad …show more content…
The doctors had no proof that the black men wanted to participate in the experiment. The participants needed to be informed of the experiment and all of the risks that came with it. However, the men were never informed and consent was never given, not even verbally. Informed consent states any risks involved with the experiment and makes them aware to the participants. Then they are given the choice to participant or not. This is not the case for the Tuskegee experiment. The men were not even given a chance to deny their participation. If was simply said that if you had bad blood then they were going to give them treatment. Even though most of the participants did not ask what bad blood was, the doctors were still obligated to tell them what the risks were, which they never

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