The Tuskegee Experiment

1. The Tuskegee �Experiment� Bad Blood, Bad Medicine, or Bad Hearts?

2. Introduction

3. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. Jeremiah 17:9-10

6. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study (Experiment) was conducted in Tuskegee, Macon County, Alabama on untreated Negro Males from 1929-1972 (1932-1972).

7. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study (Experiment) was conducted in Tuskegee, Macon County, Alabama on untreated Negro Males from 1929-1972 (1932-1972).

8. There was at least 625 patients, 411 syphilitic, 200 controls, and 14 syphilitic were added during 1938-'39 years. Totaling 425 syphilitic 200 controls. When a total of 18 patients in the control group became infected with syphilis, they were moved to the syphilitic group. Changing the totals to 443 syphilitic ,182 controls. The Study were of Negro males 25 � 60 years old. 22 The syphilitic men were diagnosed with untreated late stage - latent syphilis, supposedly noninfectious. 23 Those who were chosen to participate in the study received free medical exams, free meals, and burial stipends. The burial �insurance� were used only as means to secure permission from the victims� families for autopsies. Those participating were also known as �Miss Rivers� Lodge.� 24 Initially, a few received some type of treatment however not enough to effect the outcome of the study. The majority of patients had not received any treatment at all. 25 Treatments consisted of aspirin and mineral spirits. 26 The patients� reported receiving shots from the doctors. The patients� endured painful spinal taps and were told they were �special treatment� for their �bad blood�. For those �patients� that were alive in 1958, they received a 25th certificate and $25 dollars.

9. Murder in the name of Science

11. Food for Thought This is the lie the serpent told Eve in the Garden of Eden and this is the same lie that men use to exalt themselves as gods. After reading government reports, articles, and books� excerpt on this subject, I could not help but notice the medical professionals involved in this Study exalted themselves as gods. However, we know they were not gods, but men and by their actions they were lower than the status they held. They departed from their oath of saving lives to taking lives. The convinced themselves they were doing a good service for mankind. However, questions still lingers as to what was the true total of participants involved? If the wives, girlfriends, and children became infected by men who were supposedly noninfectious, did any of the doctors, nurses, or support staff became infected? And if those medical professionals did become infected, did they use treatments to cure themselves? The effects of syphilis in the body were well documented long before the Tuskegee Study. There was no need for this experiment to occur; to deliberately withhold treatment from those suffering, was evil. When we think of human experimentation, we think of Germany during the reign of the Nazis. However, it�s sad to note that we were no better than those in Nazi Germany. This Study would have continued until the last participants died. It took a news article to put this Study to an end, it took a lawsuit for the victims to be compensated (p. 46), and it took 65 years for an apology. President Clinton�s apology to the victims stated the Study was �racist� and he was correct. The racism display was equally shared by both white and black professionals against a group of rural farmers, laborers, and sharecroppers. What was the fault of these men and their families? They were poor, black, and trusting. We must make it a point to never forget the victims and what they endured. Research, Think, and Consider. From a great grand-daughter of sharecroppers

12. Notes White, Robert M. "Misrepresentations of the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis.." Journal of the National Medical Association 97(4) 2005 564�581. 25 Mar 2009 PubMed Central. [PMCID: PMC2568733.] 568. Ibid. Fourtner, A.W., Fourtner C.R., Herreid C.F. "Bad Blood: A Case Study of the Tuskegee Syphilis Project ." <http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/projects/cases/blood.htm>. Accessed 26 Mar 2009. Rivers, supra note 1 at 572. "Tuskegee Syphilis Study." AllExpert. <http://en.allexperts.com/e/t/tu/tuskegee_syphilis_study.htm>. Internet; accessed 27 Mar 2009. "Syphilis - CDC Fact Sheet." STD Facts - What is Syphilis?. 04 Jan 2008. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. <http://www.cdc.gov/std/syphilis/STDFact-Syphilis.htm>. Accessed 27 Mar 2009. Ellis-Christensen, Tricia. "What is Syphilis?." What is Syphilis 2009. Wise Geek. <http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-syphilis.htm> Accessed 2 Apr 2009 . Ibid. Ibid. Shafer, J. K. et.al. "Untreated Syphilis in the Male Negro -A Prospective Study of the Effect on Life Expectancy." Public Health Reports 7, no. 69 (1954): 684�690. PubMed Central. [PMCID: PMC2024307]. "Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male." Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male. 30 Mar 2009. Wikipedia. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_Study_of_Untreated_Syphilis_in_the_Negro_Male>. Accessed 27 Mar 2009. "History of Medicine Finding Aids." Documents on the origin and development of the Tuskegee syphilis study 1921-1973. 10 December 2008. U.S. National Library of Medicine. Accessed 30 Mar 2009 . <http://oculus.nlm.nih.gov/cgi/f/findaid/findaid-idx?c=nlmfindaid;id=navbarbrowselink;cginame=findaid-idx;cc=nlmfindaid;view=reslist;subview=standard;didno=tuskegee264;focusrgn=C02;byte=5540297>. Rivers, Eunice. "Twenty years of follow-up experience in a long-range medical study." Public Health Reports 68(4)1953 391�395. Accessed 28 Mar 2009. PubMed Central [PMCID: PMC2024012] �History of Medicine Finding Aids.�, supra note 12. Wikipedia, supra note 10. Ibid. AllExpert, supra note 5. Wikipedia, supra note 10. AllExpert, supra note 4. Wikipedia, supra note 10. Ibid.

13. Notes Shafer et. al., supra note 9, p. 687. Shafer et. al., supra note 9, p. 688. Rivers, supra note 13, p. 393. " Tuskegee Syphilis Study Administrative Records, compiled 1929 - 1972." Ad Hoc committee meeting to examine data from the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and offer advice on continuance of this Study ARC Identifier 281641, (1969): U.S. National Archives& Records Administration. [NARA's Southeast Region (Atlanta), Morrow, GA.] Fourtner, supra note 3. "Hippocratic Oath." Hippocratic Oath. 2009. Freedictionary.com. 5 Apr 2009 <http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Hipocratic+oath>. Fourtner, supra note 3. "Research Ethics: The Tuskegee Syphilis Study." Tuskegee University. <http://www.tuskegee.edu/Global/Story.asp?s=1207598>. 26 Mar 2009 "The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment." Tuskegee University. <http://www.tuskegee.edu/Global/Story.asp?s=1207586>. 27 Mar 2009 "Tuskegee Syphilis Study." Tuskegee Syphilis Study. <http://www.brown.edu/Courses/Bio_160/Projects2000/Ethics/TUSKEGEESYPHILISSTUDY.html>. 6 Apr 2009 Fourtner, supra note 3.; �The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment�, supra note 29. Wikipedia, supra note 10. Ibid. Ibid. Clinton, William J.. "Apology For Study Done in Tuskegee." http://clinton4.nara.gov/textonly/New/Remarks/Fri/19970516-898.html 6 April 2009. Yoon, Carol. "Families Emerge as Silent Victims Of Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment." New York Times. <http://http://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/12/us/families-emerge-as-silent-victims-of-tuskegee-syphilis-experiment.html>. 27 Mar 2009. Ibid. �Hippocratic Oath.�, supra note 27. Photos Credit: Photos are courtesy of Wiki Commons and NARA's Southeast Region (Atlanta), Morrow, GA

14. The End