Question

In 1929, the United States Health Service worked with state and local departments of health in six states to find a method to control venereal disease. The statistical reports that were conducted between 1930 and 1932 demonstrated a high rate of syphilis in Macon County, Alabama, where over 84 percent of the population were black and 40 percent of the men were infected with syphilis. The methods used for treating this disease consisted of the injection of mercury and other toxic chemicals. Some men recovered with this treatment; others were made even more ill; and in some cases in which no treatment was given, the patient was able to live for several decades.

After funding to treat the disease ran out during the Depression, the researchers conducting the Tuskegee Study attempted to discover how severe this disease was if left untreated. For this study, the U.S. Public Health Service selected 600 men. Of these 600 research subjects, 400 of the men had syphilis and the other 200 nonsyphilitic men became the control group of research subjects who received no treatment. The infected patients were not told about the purpose or nature of the research. In fact, the researchers would refer to procedures such as spinal taps as “treatments” to induce patient participation. When some of the men in the control group developed syphilis over the course of the study, they were transferred into the research group without ever being told they had the disease. No treatment was ever given to any of the men to fight the disease.

In the early 1940s, penicillin was found to be effective against syphilis. The Tuskegee Project could have been discontinued at this time, as there was no longer any need to study the course of this disease without treatment. However, the research project did continue. The researchers were able to track the men and make sure they did not receive antibiotics for any condition including syphilis. In the 1960s, a researcher working for the U.S. Public Health Service tried to put an end to the project, which was now being conducted by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta. When he was unsuccessful, he notified the press and ultimately the project was stopped. The public was outraged that poor black men had been subjected to a research project without their consent and denied treatment for a treatable disease in an attempt to gain what was seen as useless information. In 1973, the surviving patients received an out-of-court settlement of $37,500 for the infected men and $16,000 for the men in the control group. The families of men who had died also received compensation of $15,000 for the infected men and $5,000 for the uninfected men.

In 1997, President Clinton offered a public apology to the men, including one 100-year-old survivor, who were involved in this study. The last remaining survivor of this study died in 2004.

This was never a secret project. This project had been well publicized in medical journals. The people who read about the study did nothing to stop it

1. Identify ethical issues pertaining to this scenario
2. What is a control group and are control groups still used in today's medical research?
3. What ethical measures and requirements are in place to guide human subject research nowadays?

Answer 1

The ethical issues pertaining to this scenario are

• People subjected to research without any consents
• The literacy or lack of knowledge on what is being done to them (subject) is used by the researcher
• Subject denied of treatment after finding they are positive for infection and during availability of medication
• Subjects were transferred from one group to other without information

The control group term itself describes that the things are under strict supervision by a superior where the individuals are not supposed to do anything or permitted to do things on own.In simple the subjects are experimented or researched for the result and they do not receive any treatment

The scientific control group is still in effective which may give minimal effects to variable and provide treatment

The ethical measures and requirements that are in place to guide human subject on research now a days are

• to inform about the type of research and ask for their approval or willingness before selecting for a reserach
• Get consent for procedure ,treatment,etc.,
• The subjects should fit the needed criteria of the study