The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment was an experiment held in Tuskegee, Alabama from 1932-1972. The study contained at least 600 African American men, 399 entered the study with syphilis and 201 without the disease, used as controls.
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease that can result in fatal consequences. It can affect many internal organs, such as the heart, lungs and brain. Instead of being told that they were part of a medical experiment and that they had contracted syphilis, these men were told that they were being treated for “bad blood” and were receiving free medical treatment, free meals, and burial insurance.
During the experiment, doctors and nurses would inject these African American men with experimental drugs. …show more content…
Professors in charge of the experiment even gave local doctors a list of the patients, and told them not to treat those men. The study continued for an unplanned 40 years.
Even when penicillin (an antibiotic) became available in 1935 and was proven an effective cure for syphilis, these doctors did not include it on the treatments, but instead continued to use the men in this horrifying project. As a result of this study, 423 medicine from related complications of the study, and as a result, many wives and children were also infected with syphilis and suffered its devastating outcome.
In 1972, people became aware of the situation and the study ended. Jean Heller first published an article about the study titled, “Syphilis Victims in U.S. Study Went Untreated for 40 Years” in New York Times. Hearings and lawsuits on behalf of the test subjects were filed.
There was the issue of finding representatives for the deceased participants, but wives and offsprings stood in. In 1974, a $10 million settlement was reached. Laws were formed to prevent this or such experiments from happening
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease that can result in fatal consequences. It can affect many internal organs, such as the heart, lungs and brain. Instead of being told that they were part of a medical experiment and that they had contracted syphilis, these men were told that they were being treated for “bad blood” and were receiving free medical treatment, free meals, and burial insurance.
During the experiment, doctors and nurses would inject these African American men with experimental drugs. …show more content…
Professors in charge of the experiment even gave local doctors a list of the patients, and told them not to treat those men. The study continued for an unplanned 40 years.
Even when penicillin (an antibiotic) became available in 1935 and was proven an effective cure for syphilis, these doctors did not include it on the treatments, but instead continued to use the men in this horrifying project. As a result of this study, 423 medicine from related complications of the study, and as a result, many wives and children were also infected with syphilis and suffered its devastating outcome.
In 1972, people became aware of the situation and the study ended. Jean Heller first published an article about the study titled, “Syphilis Victims in U.S. Study Went Untreated for 40 Years” in New York Times. Hearings and lawsuits on behalf of the test subjects were filed.
There was the issue of finding representatives for the deceased participants, but wives and offsprings stood in. In 1974, a $10 million settlement was reached. Laws were formed to prevent this or such experiments from happening