Ethics in Research

Ms. Ntokozo Mntambo

  in 1932, 600 African American men from Macon County, Alabama
were enlisted to partake in a scientific experiment on syphilis. The
“Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male,” was
A bit of conducted by the United States Public Health Service (USPHS)
and involved blood tests, x-rays, spinal taps and autopsies of the
unsavoury(But subjects.
important)  Study goal: “observe the natural history of untreated syphilis” in
black populations.
History in the  Deceit: the subjects were unaware of this and were simply told
vast field of they were receiving treatment for bad blood. Received no
treatment at all. Even after penicillin was discovered as a safe and
Psychology reliable cure for syphilis, the majority of men did not receive it.
 Belief on which the study was based: black people were extremely
prone to sexually transmitted infections like syphilis
 In 1933, they recruited 200+ control patients who did not have
syphilis
 Began giving all patients ineffective medicines to further their
belief that they were being treated.
 In 1972 (after 40 years), that the Tuskegee study finally ended;
Only 74 of the test subjects were still alive, 128 patients had died
of syphilis or its complications; 40 of their wives had been
infected; 19 of their children had acquired congenital syphilis.
 The Tuskegee study’s lasting effects on America: life expectancy of
black men fell by up to 1.4 years when the study’s details came to
light. Many also blame the study for impacting the willingness of
black individuals to willingly participate in medical research today.
 Henderson Act was passed in 1943, requiring tests and treatments
for venereal diseases to be publicly funded,
 By 1947, penicillin had become the standard treatment for syphilis
 In 1947 the Nuremberg code was written
(https://history.nih.gov/display/history/Nuremberg+Code)
 in 1964 the World Health Organization published their Declaration
of Helsinki.
(
https://www.wma.net/what-we-do/medical-ethics/declaration-of-h
elsinki/
)
MILGRAM
EXPERIMENT
THE MONSTER
STUDY
  Ethical research also involves maintaining honesty in conducting and
reporting scientific research, giving appropriate credit for ideas and
effort, considering how knowledge gained through research should
be used
 Determining whether research is ethical is difficult because there are
no clearly right or wrong answers to ethical questions
 Scientists often have to justify their decision to conduct the research
What is Ethical with the belief that in the long run the potential gains of the resulting
knowledge will outweigh any potential costs that may be incurred by
Research? participants or by society at large
 There are generally 4 basic goals of ethical research pertaining to
potential human participants
 Protecting participants from physical and psychological harm
 Providing freedom of choice about participation in the research
 Maintaining awareness of the power differentials between the research
and the participants
 Honestly describing the nature and use of the research to participants
Typology of
Research
Action