Required resources Bad Blood case study and chapter 13 of the text book

The “Bad Blood” case study depicts the story of the unethical Tuskegee Syphilis Study that began in 1932 and lasted for 40 years. The study included 399 African American men with syphilis and 201 healthy men who were unknowingly included in the study as a control group. The study aimed to investigate the natural progression of syphilis but had no intentions of curing the disease, even after a cure was discovered. The participants were not informed about the nature of the study, and treatment was denied to them, leading to severe health consequences, including death.

It is likely that the participants took part in this study because they trusted the doctors who promised them free medical care and treatment for their “bad blood,” a term that was commonly used to describe a wide range of ailments. The participants may have also taken part in the study because of the lack of access to healthcare and limited resources in their community. Furthermore, some may have been coerced or manipulated into participating, as it was believed that the participants were not informed about the nature and the risks associated with the study.

Several ethical principles were violated in this research study, including informed consent, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice. The participants were not informed of the nature of the study and were not given the opportunity to provide informed consent. Treatment was denied to them, and they were not informed about the cure for syphilis, which was available at the time. The study also caused significant harm to the participants, violating the principles of beneficence and non-maleficence. Moreover, the study lacked justice, as the participants were mostly poor and African American, and the study failed to provide them with the same standard of care as white participants.

An experiment such as this would not be conducted today due to the significant changes in research ethics and the implementation of laws and regulations that aim to protect human subjects in research. Today, researchers are required to follow strict guidelines and obtain informed consent from participants, ensure that the benefits of the research outweigh the risks, and protect the privacy and confidentiality of the participants. Furthermore, the Institutional Review Board (IRB) was established to review and approve research studies involving human subjects and to ensure that the studies are conducted ethically and in compliance with the law.

In conclusion, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study was a horrific example of unethical research that violated the basic principles of human subjects’ protection. The study took advantage of vulnerable and marginalized populations and caused significant harm to the participants. Today, the implementation of laws, regulations, and ethical guidelines protects human subjects in research and ensures that research studies are conducted ethically and with the highest standards of care.

References:

American Psychological Association. (2017). Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. https://www.apa.org/ethics/code/

Jones, J. H. (1993). Bad blood: The Tuskegee syphilis experiment. Free Press.

National Institutes of Health. (2020). What is an Institutional Review Board (IRB)? https://www.nia.nih.gov/research/dgcg/obrs/what-institutional-review-board-irb.