The Tuskegee Syphilis Study Essay

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In 1932, the Public Health Service worked with the Tuskegee Institute and enrolled 600 black men from Macon County, Alabama into the Tuskegee syphilis study to research the history of syphilis in blacks. 399 of the men were diagnosed with syphilis while 201 of the men were part of the control group and have not been diagnosed with syphilis. Each of these men were a sharecropper which was a significant career in this part of Alabama because of its rich soil. According to the USPHS Syphilis Study article, “Researchers told the men participating in the study that they were to be treated for "bad blood." This term was used locally by people to describe a host of diagnosable ailments including but not limited to anemia, fatigue, and syphilis.” This statement was …show more content…
Before the study was performed on the 600 sharecroppers, they were not informed of all the dangers although it was considered beneficial for them (Tuskegee Syphilis Study, 2008). There are many people people who believe that there are situations and researches where informed consent isn’t necessary or possible. Personally, I believe that in every single research it is possible and is completely necessary. I say this because everyone part of a research has the right to know what dangers, risks, and complications they could potentionally come across. If a researcher is not sure of what problems could be involved, then they should not be performing a research that they do not have enough knowledge about. Vanessa Northington who has been researching on the Tuskegee study for years said that the men involved were offered free medical assistance, rides to and from the clinics, meals during exams, and would have provisions for their burial if they happened to pass away (The Enduring Legacy of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study,
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