Tuskegee Syphilis Study

The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male (often referred to as the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment or Tuskegee Syphilis Study) was a profoundly unethical clinical study conducted by the United States Public Health Service (PHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from 1932 to 1972. The study's stated aim was to observe the natural history of untreated syphilis, but it has since been widely condemned for its unethical treatment of participants, particularly its deception of the African-American men who were the subjects of the study.

Overview and Background[edit | edit source]

The Tuskegee Study began in 1932 in Macon County, Alabama, where the PHS and CDC enrolled 600 impoverished African-American sharecroppers. Of these men, 399 had latent syphilis and a control group of 201 did not have the disease. The men were told they were being treated for "bad blood", a local term used to describe several ailments, including syphilis, anemia, and fatigue.

Study Design and Implementation[edit | edit source]

The men were given free medical exams, free meals, and burial insurance, but were not informed of their syphilis diagnosis nor treated for it. Instead, they were monitored to study the progression of the disease. Even when penicillin became the drug of choice for syphilis in 1947, researchers did not offer it to the subjects. The advisory panel had agreed to continue the study without treating the men for syphilis and without informing them of the diagnosis.

Ethical Concerns and Termination of the Study[edit | edit source]

The study has been widely condemned for its ethical violations. These include the deception of the study's subjects, the withholding of treatment, and the lack of informed consent. The study was stopped only in 1972 when a leak to the press resulted in public outrage.

Aftermath and Legacy[edit | edit source]

In the aftermath of the study, the U.S. government paid a $10 million out-of-court settlement in 1974, and the PHS promised to provide free medical treatment to surviving participants and their family members infected as a consequence of the study. The Tuskegee Health Benefit Program was established to provide these services.

The study had a significant impact on medical ethics regulations. In 1974, the National Research Act was signed into law, creating the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research. The Commission was tasked with identifying the basic ethical principles that should underlie the conduct of biomedical and behavioral research involving human subjects.

External links[edit | edit source]

Tuskegee Syphilis Study Resources
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