U.S. Public Health Service Syphilis Study at Tuskegee

[sheshe2]

The Tuskegee Timeline



The Study Begins

In 1932, the Public Health Service, working with the Tuskegee Institute, began a study to record the natural history of syphilis in hopes of justifying treatment programs for blacks. It was called the "Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male."

The study initially involved 600 black men – 399 with syphilis, 201 who did not have the disease. The study was conducted without the benefit of patients' informed consent. Researchers told the men they were being treated for "bad blood," a local term used to describe several ailments, including syphilis, anemia, and fatigue. In truth, they did not receive the proper treatment needed to cure their illness. In exchange for taking part in the study, the men received free medical exams, free meals, and burial insurance. Although originally projected to last 6 months, the study actually went on for 40 years.



What Went Wrong?

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The panel found that the men had agreed freely to be examined and treated. However, there was no evidence that researchers had informed them of the study or its real purpose. In fact, the men had been misled and had not been given all the facts required to provide informed consent.

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The Study Ends and Reparation Begins

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In the summer of 1973, a class-action lawsuit was filed on behalf of the study participants and their families. In 1974, a $10 million out-of-court settlement was reached. As part of the settlement, 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 to provide these services. In 1975, wives, widows and offspring were added to the program. In 1995, the program was expanded to include health as well as medical benefits. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was given responsibility for the program, where it remains today in the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention. The last study participant died in January 2004. The last widow receiving THBP benefits died in January 2009. There are 15 offspring currently receiving medical and health benefits.

Read More http://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/timeline.htm







Another shameful moment in history, that lasted 40 years.

[Warpy]

1. It kind of puts Mengele into a different perspective

when you realize that people with black skin were considered as subhuman here as Jews were in Nazi Germany.

Syphilis is a hideous way to live and die. Those bastards let all those people live in agony because they dismissed their patients as trash, not worthy of human consideration or compassion.

And they all died comfortably well off and in soft beds after the "study" ended.

[cali]

3. No. Just no. Hideous as Tuskegee was it's not a good comparison

The men in Tuskegee weren't infected with Syphilis by the government.

This is just some of what Mengele did- much of it to small children- and it wasn't solely Jews, Romany too.

<snip>

Experiments performed by Mengele on twins included unnecessary amputation of limbs, intentionally infecting one twin with typhus or other diseases, and transfusing the blood of one twin into the other. Many of the victims died while undergoing these procedures.[50] After an experiment was over, the twins were sometimes killed and their bodies dissected.[51] Nyiszli recalled one occasion where Mengele personally killed fourteen twins in one night via a chloroform injection to the heart.[34] If one twin died of disease, Mengele killed the other so that comparative post-mortem reports could be prepared.[52]

Mengele's experiments with eyes included attempts to change eye color by injecting chemicals into the eyes of living subjects and killing people with heterochromatic eyes so that the eyes could be removed and sent to Berlin for study.[53] His experiments on dwarfs and people with physical abnormalities included taking physical measurements, drawing blood, extracting healthy teeth, and treatment with unnecessary drugs and X-rays.[3] Many of the victims were sent to the gas chambers after about two weeks, and their skeletons were sent to Berlin for further study.[54] Mengele sought out pregnant women, on whom he would perform experiments before sending them to the gas chambers.[55] Witness Vera Alexander described how he sewed two Romani twins together back to back in an attempt to create conjoined twins.[50] The children died of gangrene after several days of suffering.[56]

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Mengele#Human_experimentation

[cali]

2. a shameful, disgusting stain on our history

[malaise]

4. Institutional racism most foul

and they did it with poor people in Central America as well.

[heaven05]

5. this mentality is making a comeback

methinks. Constant monitoring of the racists in science, government, police and military is necessary.