The ETHICAL Research- Revisiting the Tuskegee Study
The Tuskegee Syphilis study initiated in 1932 is notorious for extreme violation of medical ethics. 600 poor black men from Alabama, most of whom were diagnosed with Syphilis, were were told that they will be treated for “bad blood” for free. Despite the approval of the use of penicillin to treat this condition in the 1940s, the treatment was voluntarily withheld to observe the natural course of the disease among participants. It was after long 40 years that the matter was brought to attention and the study came to a halt. During this time, several black men became gravely ill and even lost their lives. These kinds of experiments teach us the importance of incorporating ethics in medical research. The fundamental idea of "DO NO HARM" must be kept in mind while researching about anything revolving around human lives.