Amanda Ivester

Informative Speech
COMM250: Public Speaking
Preparation Outline

Topic: Abusing the Innocent: The Guatemalan Syphilis Study

General Purpose: to inform
Specific Purpose: To inform my audience in an impartial way about the Guatemalan syphilis
study.
Central Idea: The Guatemalan syphilis study.
1. Introduction
A. Attention Getting Device: Fake horror movie plot summary
B. Link to Topic: As impossible as it seems, thats exactly what happened during the
Guatemalan syphilis study during the 1940s.
C. Topic: The Guatemalan syphilis study and medical ethics.
D. Significance/Justification: We must learn from the past to avoid repeating it. If these
doctors knew this was wrong then and did it anyway, the same thing could happen again.
Medical ethics impact us all, directly and indirectly.
E. Thesis: What is the Guatemalan syphilis study and how does it pertain to medical ethics.
F. Overall Preview: I plan to talk about why the study occurred, what happened during the
study, the aftermath of the study, and the medical ethics surrounding the study.
2. Main Point 1: Why
A. Transition Sentence: First lets talk about why anyone ever produced this movie in the
first place.
B. Internal Preview: So just why did the Guatemalan syphilis study happen at all?
C. Sub Point A: Syphilis impact on soldiers functioning
i. primary: sore on affected area (Syphilis Symptoms)

Amanda Ivester

ii. secondary: copper penny rash on palms and soles (Syphilis Symptoms)
iii. latent (Syphilis Symptoms)
iv: tertiary: attacks heart, brain, and nerves which can cause blindness, paralysis,
deafness, and even death (Syphilis Symptoms)
D. Sub Point B: Cost
i. enough soldiers out of action to fill ten aircraft carriers (McNeiel, 2011)
ii. 18 months and $34 million ($440 million today) to treat (McNeiel, 2011)
3. Main Point 2: Who and What
A. Transition Sentence: Now that weve established the inspiration for this box office flop,
lets talk about the main characters and plot line.
B. Internal Preview: Who was involved and what exactly happened during this study?
C. Sub Point A: Who
i. Guatemalan prisoners and mental patients
ii. Surgeon and attorney general (McNeiel, 2011)
iii. Presidents of the American Medical Association and National Academy of Sciences
(McNeiel, 2011)
iv. experts from John Hopkins, Harvard, and the Universities of Pennsylvania and
Rochester (McNeiel, 2011)
v. Dr. John C. Cutler; same man in charge of the Tuskegee study (McNeiel, 2011)
D. Sub Point B: What
i. penicillin to treat/prevent syphilis (Hensley, 2010)
ii. 5,500 Guatemalans; 1,300 infected with syphilis or another STI; 700 received
treatment (BBC News, 2011)
iii. None of the Guatemalans were informed (BBC News, 2011)
iv. Paid infected prostitutes to have sex with the inmates (Doyle, 2011)
v. Ineffective so the doctors placed the bacteria in the open wounds MADE (not already
there) on the inmates arms, faces, or genitals (Mandal, 2011)
vi. Needed more people and to be able to monitor them so they moved to the asylums
(Doyle, 2011)
4. Main Point 3: Aftermath

Amanda Ivester

A. Transition Sentence: The only thing left is to find out how audience and the critics felt.
B. Internal Preview: So what did happen as a result of this study
C. Sub Point A: Then
i. 83 died by 1953 (BBC News, 2011)
ii. Countless people were left physically and mentally scarred
iii. Results never released because Cutler took them home and they were archived
(Doyle, 2011)
iv. Penicillin cures syphilis in eight days (McNeiel, 2011)
D. Sub Point B: Now
i. Happened in 1946 to 1948 but didnt come to light until 2010
ii. Tension between US and Guatemala
5. Conclusion.
A. Overall Summary: This movie was filmed because of money, some of the most
powerful medical authorizes in the US played leading roles, and the only thing good that
came out of all the horror was a sex scene.
B. Link to AGD: It really sounds like a horror movie, doesnt it? Like all great movies,
though there is one last twist. Everyone knew what they were doing was wrong.
C. Memorable Closing:
i. Some of the same scientists had tried to do this study with consent in the US (BBC
News, 2011)
ii. Intentionally kept the work secret by not using university researchers (McNeil, 2011)
iii. Wording of the report showed that the doctors knew this study was unethical and at
the same time the doctors portion of the Nuremberg Trials was going on (Doyle,
2011)
iv. I am a bit, in fact more than a bit, leery of the experiment with the insane people.
They cannot give consent, do not know what is going on, and if some goody
organization got wind of the work, they would raise a lot of smoke. I think the
soldiers would be best or the prisoners for they can give consent. Cutler (Doyle,
2011)
vii. I would ask if we should expect a sequel but this already was. So are we headed for a
trilogy or can we finally role the credits and let all the victims who have succumbed
to poor medical ethics rest in peace?

Amanda Ivester

Works Cited
BBC News - US scientists 'knew Guatemala syphilis tests unethical'. (2011, August 30). BBC Homepage. Retrieved February 27, 2013, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latinamerica-14712089
Doyle, K. (2011, April 25). Decades Later, NARA Posts Documents on Guatemalan Syphilis
Experiments | UNREDACTED. UNREDACTED. Retrieved March 8, 2013, from
http://nsarchive.wordpress.com/2011/04/25/nara-posts-dr-cutlers-papers-on-medicalexperiments-in-guatemala/
Hensley, S. (2010, October 1). U.S. Apologizes For Syphilis Experiments In Guatemala : Shots Health News : NPR. NPR : National Public Radio : News & Analysis, World, US, Music
& Arts : NPR. Retrieved March 8, 2013, from
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/10/01/130266301/u-s-apologizes-for-medicalresearch-that-infected-guatemalans-with-syphilis
Mandal, A. (2011, August 31). Guatemalan Syphilis study in 1940s violated ethical standards:
US presidential commission report. THE MEDICAL NEWS. Retrieved February 27, 2013,
from http://www.news-medical.net/news/20110831/Guatemalan-Syphilis-study-in1940e28099s-violated-ethical-standards-US-presidential-commission-report.aspx
McNeiel, D. (2011, September 14). Lapses by Leaders Seen in 1940s Syphilis Tests on Prisoners
- NYTimes.com. The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia.
Retrieved February 27, 2013, from
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/14/health/14syphilis.html?_r=2&
Syphilis Symptoms, Causes, and Diagnosis. (n.d.). WebMD - Better information. Better health..
Retrieved March 8, 2013, from http://www.webmd.com/sexual-conditions/guide/syphilis