Uriarte, Richfel Andrea A.

BSN 3E

III. Ethical Principles

Tuskegee Syphilis Study

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study was conducted from 1932 to 1972 around
Tuskegee, Alabama. Six hundred poor and mostly illiterate African-American males,
400 of whom were infected with syphilis, were monitored for 40 years. Free medical
examinations were given; however, subjects were not told about their diagnosis.
Even though a cure (penicillin) became available in the 1950s, the study continued
until 1972 with participants being denied proper treatment or given fake treatments
and placebos, instead. In some cases, when subjects were diagnosed as having
syphilis by other physicians, researchers intervened to prevent treatment. Many of
the subjects died slow and painful deaths of syphilis during the study, which was
stopped in 1973 by the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare only
after its existence was publicized and became a political embarrassment.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_syphilis_experiment

1. What ethical principles were violated?

Respect for human dignity was violated by the study. Medical researchers are
required to obtain informed consent from their study participants, which means that
participants must be given accurate information about their circumstances and
treatment options so that they can decide what will happen to them.
Beneficence was also disobeyed. The researchers did not provide the
subjects the treatment they needed. In some way, the latter were harmed by the
former. The subjects were also not discussed with the risks and benefits they would
get from the research.
The principle of justice was also defied. Research participants must be
selected fairly and randomly, without consideration of any economic, social, and
gender class.
Uriarte, Richfel Andrea A. BSN 3E

Obviously, researchers in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study violated all three of

these principles, as participants were lied to about their condition, lied to about the
treatment they were receiving, and selected based on race, gender, and economic
class.
2. What should have been done to protect the rights of the human
subjects?
First of all, the subjects should have been fully informed with the nature of
the study, the researcher’s responsibilities, as well as the risks and benefits of the
experiment. The researchers should have stressed that the subjects have the right
to decide whether they would accept or refuse the offer on participating on the
study.
Second, if the subjects have agreed to take part in the research, the
investigator should have maximized the benefits that the participants would receive
rather than impose harm to them. The subjects should have been given the right to
freedom from harm and discomfort. As for their right to protection from
exploitation, the participants should not have been placed at a disadvantage or
exposed to a situation which they were not prepared for.
Lastly, research participants should have been selected fairly and randomly,
without consideration of any economic, social, and gender class.