Huerta Orocio 1

Andrea Huerta Orocio

Professor Kaftan

Sociology 1303

30 June 2020

Tuskegee Syphilis Study

The focus of this essays is on the evaluation of the 1932 United States Public Health

Services (USPHS). Before an intervention was made to curb the unethical activities carried out,

the study had taken place in the years following 1932 to 1972. 600 African American men,

categorized as 400 syphilitic and a control group comprising of the remaining 200. were

recruited for the study, whose objective was to investigate the implications of untreated syphilis

across the African American community. In the course of the study, an antibiotic known as

Penicillin was introduced to enable the mitigation of the infection. Nevertheless, while the aim of

the study was to identify treatment options for the subjects, none was offered. The cruel and

unethical conduct against the men resulted in casualties as over 100 subjects succumbed to the

infection.

The main discussion points for this essay include, the implications of the backward nature

attributed to the study and the lack of ethics from the research team and the attitude towards such

a study today. As such, the purpose of the study was to determine if there were any racial

differences between blacks and whites in the development of syphilis. Although in the early

1950’s treatment for syphilis became available while the study was being conducted the Public

Health Services refused to treat the men since it was a one-time chance of a study.
 Huerta Orocio 2

The Tuskegee syphilis study was extremely unethical due to several reasons. Not only did

Clark lie to every person who participated in his study, he constructed the experiment very

poorly and purposefully targets a disadvantaged social group. In the scientific world, it is illegal

for researchers to lie to participants about an aspect of any given study. While they can withhold

the truth if the need comes without risk to the participant and the participant is told after the

study has been completed, the participant must be told no matter what. The basis for the

Tuskegee syphilis study was to follow the effects of syphilis on the “negro” body (Tuskegee

University, 2018). Clark never specified and end date to his study, this was the faulty, or

purposeful, error that gave him the ability to never tell the participants the true goal of the

experiment. In this case, he was effectively able to lie to the participants in order to gain their

cooperation and continue the study. Additionally, targeting a specific group when syphilis affects

all people is extremely controversial and against current study procedures. This kind of

experiment design is highly unethical, and Clark was scrutinized heavily for his actions.

The biggest consequence was the loss of 100 innocent lives due to complications of

untreated syphilis. The impact that it made on the family members of those men and their

community. It would not be acceptable to replicate this study. The study was based on stigma

and bias of African Americans. In any event, the mistakes of the past have paved the way for a

bright future within the world of research and ethics. After the study was shutdown, the

American Psychological Association started to crackdown on unethical research practices and

institute guidelines on safe and ethical experimentation. Many researchers now answer to an

institutional Review Board which are common among most research institutions and required in

order to perform research. The IRB reviews the experiment and determines if it is safe to conduct

and has purpose.

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Functionalism is a sociological theory based on the ideas od Emile Durkheim that looks

at a society from a large-scale perspective. It looks at the different structures that makes up a

society and how each structure help the equilibrium of the society. Social facts is a way of

thinking and acting form by the society that existed before any individual, such as cultural norms

and values. When it comes to racism in the perspective of functionalism racism was necessary to

for the dominant group to continue to hold the balance of power over the lives of African

Americans. The study of Syphilis shows how the white people demeaned the African American

population and continued to use bias to emphasize that the were less and to a point inhuman.

Placing the black men’s life at risk without questioning if it was ethical before shows the power

the whites had in the medical intuition that it took forty years to question the morality.