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Tuskegee Syphilis Study Essay

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The Tuskegee Syphilis Study is a now-infamous medical study carried out from 1932 through 1972, with the intentions of studying the effects and results of untreated syphilis infection. Although initially valid, the study soon became twisted, and for many years remained a veiled, dark secret of the Public Health Service and the Tuskegee Institute. After forty years of malpractice, its details eventually became public knowledge, leading to the program 's shutting down shortly after these details were published. Later, patients and patient relatives successfully sued for monetary damages, as well as lasting benefits. It remains a critical exemplification of medical misconduct and blatant misuse of medical science. “The legacy of the study at Tuskegee,” …show more content…

In addition to this misinformation, patients were not provided with a way out of the study, effectively dooming them to a life without treatment for the disease. This, of course, contradicts the principles of non-maleficence, as the patients were made to suffer with their ailment throughout the study, even though they could have been easily treated. Although Penicillin was the standard treatment for syphilis by the mid-1940s, participants’ in the Tuskegee Study were denied access to it (Walker, C. (2009). The study infringes on the principle of justice in major aspects. For example, a major injustice is evident given that researchers exclusively carried out this study on African-American males and did not fairly distribute the studies among all races. Additionally, medical researchers purposely targeted highly impoverished area to find participants for the study. While prevalence may have been higher among this group, the lack of any other test subject demographics indicates possible discrimination in proceedings towards this particular

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