Tuskegee Syphilis Studies Discussion

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Tuskegee Syphilis Studies Discussion
DISCUSSION
Role of Ethics in Scientific Research. Ethics offers guidelines for acceptable and unacceptable behavior in research. It defines how researchers ought to act while studying or analyzing issues. Ethical behavior allows professionals to obtain public trust. It’s a tool for guiding goals and methodology applied in research. “Adherence to ethical norms promotes constructive knowledge and truth while eliminating errors” (Resnik 2). Ethics also serves to create harmonious collaborations by promoting respect, confidentiality, and safety. It also ensures accountability, reduces misconduct, and addresses cases of conflicts-of-interests. This helps in protecting human subjects, animals and public funds used in research. Ethical guidelines promote values like human rights, responsibility, animal welfare and legal compliance.
The Case on Tuskegee Syphilis Studies and Problem Being Investigated. The infamous Tuskegee Syphilis was carried out in the city of Tuskegee, Alabama between 1932 and 1972 and has been termed as malicious and unethical. In 1932 there was no cure for syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease which was hard to treat at that time until 1940, but studies continued. A group of African-American were recruited and promised free medical care. “They were informed that it was for the purpose of treating bad blood but, the researchers were studying the disease not treating it” (Frederick). The African-American participants were not told what was wrong.

They were simply told that it was an enrolment into a health program.
Ethical Violations in Tuskegee Studies. The men in the study did not know that they were being used for research. They were not told that they had a deadly disease. Even after people started suffering, they were not told if they were being treated. No proper care was given to the group of men who ended up insane, blind or dead. Researchers gave a list of these men to the doctors and directed them not to treat them. The study group “went untreated even after the discovery of penicillin which was a violation of the Alabama public health laws” (Frederick). Researchers were only tracking the participants until they die which was wrong.
Americans of African descent developed a mistrust of public health. Human subjects in this research were treated poorly. President Bill Clinton made an apology and condemned the research describing it as unethical and shameful. He then announced plans for improving future scientific research involving human subjects.

Works Cited
Frederick, Gray. “Tuskegee Syphilis Study”. C-Span, 22 December. 2001, www.c-span.org/video/?168001-1/tuskegee-syphilis-study&start=426. Accessed on 20 August. 2018.
Resnik, David B. “What is ethics in research & why it’s important?” National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (2011): 1-10.