Legal and Ethical Issues

Cassandra Booe
Tuskegee Airmen Syphilis
Case

The Tuskegee Airmen Syphilis case involved an unethical experimentation of the

progression of untreated syphilis in 600 black men. These men were told that they had a case of
bad blood and that they would receive free medical care to treat their condition. The initial
expected timeline for this experiment was 6-8 months, but instead it went on for 40 years before
it was finally stopped.
This all began in 1932 when the Public Health Service (USPHS) began a study to
determine the natural course of untreated, latent syphilis in black males. The men and their
families were not aware that this was an experimentation and were led to believe that they were
receiving treatment for their condition. In order to trick the test subjects into believing they were
receiving treatment, the government would send non effective medication to the men. The goal
of the USPHS was never to treat the syphilis, and even in 1947 when Penicillin was found to be
an effective treatment it was intentionally withheld. To add to this, the men were subjected to
spinal taps and the ultimate goal was to wait until they died so that autopsies could be completed
to see the results. The government even went so far as to contact other physicians in the area to
inform them that none of the subjects were to be treated by them and to send the subjects back to
the medical facility that was in compliance with the USPHS.
In 1972, a newspaper headline reading Syphilis victims in U.S. Study Went Untreated
for 40 years brought huge attention to the injustice that was taking place. Only then did the
Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) halt the experiment. In August 1972, HEW
appointed an investigatory panel of 9 members who found the study to have been ethically
unjustified and argued that penicillin should have been given to the men. In 1973 lawyers

Legal and Ethical Issues

Cassandra Booe
Tuskegee Airmen Syphilis
Case

brought a class action suit against the U.S. government on behalf of the subjects and their
families and heirs. The suit was settled out of court in 1974 and since that time more than $10
million has been paid to the affected people (around 6000 total). At the time of the decision, the
U.S. government promised to give lifetime medical benefits and burial services to all living
participants. The Tuskegee Health Benefit Program (THBP) was established in order to provide
these services. In 1975, the wives, widows, and offspring were added to the program. In 1995,
the program was expanded to include health as well as medical benefits.
This decision has huge implications on healthcare in several different ways. First, this
case can be used in court to hold a health care facility or provider liable for not receiving
informed consent prior to performing a procedure or treatment. It also demonstrates the
importance of a patients right to have all of the necessary information prior to giving consent to
be a part of an experiment or medical procedure. In a legal sense, I believe this case can be used
going forward to protect the rights and safety of patients who may fall victim to healthcare
malpractice. From a social standpoint though, I cant help but wonder what kind of mistrust this
has caused in our health care system, particularly for African Americans.
We have stricter laws in place now to prevent these types of studies from being done, so
one would think that research studies like this one could not be conducted today. However, if
history has taught us anything, we dont seem to learn from our mistakes and corrupt individuals
as well as government agencies tend to continue to find ways around the law to get what they
want. Since the beginning of time there have been many repeats of mass genocides and injustices
done to populations of people who cant defend themselves. I think that the laws we have today
make it harder and maybe even impossible for some corporations to perform research studies like

Legal and Ethical Issues

Cassandra Booe
Tuskegee Airmen Syphilis
Case

this one, but I cannot say with absolute certainty that unethical and illegal research is not being
conducted today. I think that it would be nave to say that everyone is abiding by the law,
especially when you are talking about corrupt powerful corporations that have the finances to
pull something like this off regardless if the intent is in the name of science or to make
someones wallet thicker.
Considering the inflation rate of 5% over a period of 5 years and the fact that this
research study is still impacting the heirs today of those original subjects from back in 1932, I
think that the settlement should be different. The implications from this case are still going on
and medical expenses cost way more than they did in 1932. I think that the settlement needs to
reflect the time that we are in and ensure that everyone who is still impacted by this research
study is receiving the necessary benefits to take care of themselves and their families. As far as
using the data from this experiment I am not sure where I stand with this. It is absolutely
atrocious that this happened, but if the data can be used to help other people get better and help
prevent disease and mortality then at least something positive can come from such a horrible
action. With that being said, I found a statement made by Dr. James B. Lucas, Assistant Chief of
the Venereal Disease Branch, where he said Nothing learned will prevent, find, or cure a single
case of infectious syphilis or bring us closer to our basic mission of controlling venereal disease
in the United States. That statement, along with several other things that I found in my research,
makes me question how helpful this research study really was. I didnt find much at all about
how the information that was discovered in this experiment even helps people with syphilis. It
seems that while they were busy conducting this study, other people and organizations actually
made contributions and headway, such as discovering that penicillin is an effective treatment for

Legal and Ethical Issues

Cassandra Booe
Tuskegee Airmen Syphilis
Case

the disease. I dont see any great contributions that have been made to society by having
conducted this experiment. If theres nothing to contribute to improve the lives of people today,
then theres really no reason to need the data from this experiment.
Even though this type of injustice happens in todays society, we need to do what we can
to keep this from happening again. I dont know how to ensure that this doesnt happen again,
but I think a good place to start is by standing up and speaking out when we see an injustice like
this being done. One of the problems in this case were that multiple people, including African
American doctors and nurses, were aware that this was going on and yet did nothing about it. We
need to learn to voice our concerns and fight against corrupt organizations who victimize certain
populations because they think that they can get away with it.

Works Cited:

Brandt, A. (2009). Racism and research: The case study of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study.
https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/3372911/Brandt_Racism.pdf?sequence=1
Georgetown University. (2007). Case 7 untreated syphilis mistreated men.
https://highschoolbioethics.georgetown.edu/units/cases/unit3_7.html
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2016). The Tuskegee timeline.
http://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/timeline.htm