Unethical treatment of research study participant
Option #1:
The Tuskegee Syphilis Study was a clinical study conducted by the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) between 1932 and 1972 in Tuskegee, Alabama. The study aimed to examine the progression of untreated syphilis in African American men, who were mainly poor sharecroppers. The participants were told that they were being treated for “bad blood,” which was a term commonly used in the area to describe a range of illnesses, including syphilis. However, the participants were not informed that they were infected with syphilis, nor were they provided with proper medical treatment for the disease.
The unethical nature of this experiment is multi-fold. First, the study was conducted without the informed consent of the participants, which is a fundamental principle of research ethics. Second, the participants were intentionally denied adequate treatment for a disease that was known to cause severe and sometimes fatal complications. Third, the study continued even after penicillin was discovered to be an effective treatment for syphilis, denying participants a cure that could have prevented long-term health consequences. Fourth, the study targeted a vulnerable population, namely poor African American men, who were not provided with the same level of medical care as other citizens.
The ethical issues raised by the Tuskegee Syphilis Study include informed consent, deception, exploitation of vulnerable populations, and withholding medical treatment. The study highlighted the need for informed consent and the importance of protecting the rights and welfare of research participants. It also led to the development of guidelines for the protection of human subjects, such as the Belmont Report and the establishment of institutional review boards (IRBs) to oversee research involving human subjects.
References:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017). The Tuskegee Timeline. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/timeline.htm
Tuskegee University National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care. (n.d.). About the USPHS Syphilis Study. Retrieved from http://www.tuskegee.edu/about_us/centers_of_excellence/bioethics_center/about_the_usphs_syphilis_study.aspx
Reverby, S. M. (2009). The Tuskegee legacy project: How do we know what we know? Hastings Center Report, 39(6), 33-40. doi:10.1353/hcr.0.0196
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