Introduction

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The Tuskegee syphilis experiment, in which the U.S. Public Health Service intentionally left black men untreated for syphilis for over 40 years to study the progression of the disease.

The Tuskegee syphilis experiment, in which the U.S. Public Health Service intentionally left black men untreated for syphilis for over 40 years to study the progression of the disease.

The Tuskegee Experiment was a clinical study conducted between 1932 and 1972 by the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) on 400 poor African-American men with syphilis (the “Tuskegee Study”). The U.S. Public Health Service started working with the Tuskegee Institute, which recruited 600 black sharecroppers from Macon County, Alabama, to take part in their study of “bad blood” or “bad blood theory.” They were told that they were being treated for “bad blood” when it was just a placebo that did nothing for them! Many patients worsened during this period because they weren’t given proper medical care or treatment. Just one year after starting their treatment, more than 100 people died from their illness, while another 100 went blind!

June 26, 1932

On June 26, 1932, Charlie Pollard—a Tuskegee man who worked as an orderly at the hospital where he was treated—was injected with syphilis. The Public Health Service told him he had bad blood and didn’t need treatment. Instead, they informed him that they were studying his illness.

Pollard died in January of 1933 from complications related to syphilis.

In a state-sanctioned experiment, an untreated black man is injected with syphilis at Tuskegee University.

On February 23, 1932, a black man with syphilis was injected with the disease as part of an experimental study at Tuskegee University. The researchers intentionally did not give him treatment for his condition to study how it progressed over time. This experiment is often cited as an example of unethical research on human subjects because they were denied standard medical care in favor of observing them over time. And though this particular experiment happened nearly 80 years ago, these issues still resonate today—especially when you consider how often people talk about “ethics” in bioethics and medicine.

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study has become one of the most infamous examples of human rights violations in modern history. It serves as a cautionary tale against conducting clinical trials without informed consent or withholding treatment from patients based on race or socioeconomic status.

July 17, 1943

On July 17, 1943, the Public Health Service replaced Vonderlehr as director of syphilis investigations. Dr. Raymond A. Vonderlehr was replaced by Dr. John F. Mahoney (1903-1986), a professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota who would serve as a director until 1958.

Vonderlehr is replaced as Public Health Service director of syphilis investigations by Dr. Raymond A. Vonderlehr.

In 1943, Dr. Raymond A. Vonderlehr replaced Dr. Rufus B. von KleinSmid as the director of syphilis investigations for the Public Health Service. This is a fairly significant event in terms of our story:

February 6, 1946

The Tuskegee syphilis experiment was a clinical study conducted between 1932 and 1972 by the U.S. Public Health Service. The research aimed to observe the natural progression of untreated syphilis in rural African-American men who thought they were receiving free health care from the government.

The experiment involved 600 black men with syphilis and 400 without it, all from Macon County, Alabama. By 1947, penicillin was effective in curing syphilis, but its use was still considered experimental at the time; for this reason, researchers decided not to treat those patients who had been diagnosed with syphilis before that year under any circumstances (after which point they would have been treated). In addition to giving them inaccurate information about their health situation and withholding treatment that might have saved their lives or kept them from suffering permanent damage due to complications like paralysis or blindness (which many participants did experience), this also allowed scientists to study how well different treatments worked on diverse populations of people—in other words: it provided them with some precious data on what happens when you don’t give someone medication after being diagnosed with an infectious disease.

In a meeting between Drs. Dougherty and Jones and the Alabama State Board of Health, the board refuse to take action regarding the Tuskegee study.

In the summer of 1932, Drs. Jones and Dougherty meet with Alabama State Board of Health members to discuss the Tuskegee study. The board declines to take any action regarding the Tuskegee study.

May 4, 1949

On May 4, 1949, the state board of health of Georgia closed its venereal disease clinic in Macon County after it became apparent that researchers had misdiagnosed patients with syphilis as having bad blood. The result was that an untold number of people were not treated for their syphilis and left untreated until they started showing symptoms, which is the point at which treatment would’ve been most effective.

In a Michael Moore tone:

We’re all familiar with Tuskegee now—it’s become a historical marker to emphasize how far we’ve come as a nation since then. But you may not know that this kind of thing still happens today! There are five ongoing studies where researchers intentionally leave poor people sick without giving them proper treatment so they can study them later on down the line! That’s right, folks: while we’re celebrating our progress against racism and inequality in America, ongoing research projects are doing precisely what the Tuskegee Syphilis Study did back then—and no one seems to care!

The U.S. government has refused requests from several agencies (including The New York Times) seeking more information about these experiments so that we can hold them accountable for their actions; but luckily for us here at Snopes H.Q.s**

The State Board of Health of Georgia closed its venereal disease clinic in Macon County after it became apparent that researchers had misdiagnosed patients with syphilis as having bad blood.

The Tuskegee syphilis experiment, in which the U.S. Public Health Service intentionally left black men untreated for syphilis for over 40 years to study the progression of the disease, isn’t a dark secret. It’s one of America’s most notorious scandals, which happened in Macon County.

In 1932, researchers at the Tuskegee Institute opened a clinic in Macon County to study what they called “bad blood.” The term was used as a euphemism for syphilis at the time; when someone showed symptoms of bad blood, they would be referred to this clinic and tested for it.

The researchers initially told participants that they were being treated with an experimental drug called BCG (just saline solution) but did not tell them about their actual condition or how serious it could become if left untreated.

February 12, 1952

The Tuskegee experiment was extended for another five years and expanded to include 400 men. The men were told they would be treated for “bad blood,” but the treatments were placebos.

The Public Health Service extends and expands the Tuskegee experiment.

The Tuskegee experiment was extended to include the wives and children of the infected men. It was also expanded to include men who had not been infected with syphilis. The Public Health Service justified the inclusion of non-infected participants by claiming they were “at risk.”

While one man died from a heart attack, most of those affected lived long lives with their conditions untreated. In 1976, an Associated Press report revealed that the PHS had been deliberately withholding treatment from its human subjects for decades; this revelation led to an uproar in Congress and mainstream America alike, which led President Gerald Ford to issue a formal apology on behalf of all Americans for what he called “an outrage.”

December 4, 1965

In December 1965, the Tuskegee study was expanded to include women. It was also developed to have children and other diseases.

In 1966, a year after the study was first published in The New England Journal of Medicine, the Public Health Service (PHS) began allowing some participants to receive treatment for syphilis if they developed symptoms or signs of disease. But because these participants were already infected with syphilis before entering the study, they were excluded from its analysis.

In 1972, after several years of lobbying by outside groups, including Ralph Nader’s Center for Study of Responsive Law (COSRL), President Richard Nixon ordered an end to all federally funded medical research involving human subjects unless informed consent had been obtained from all subjects or their legal representatives; this became known as the Belmont Report after its authors’ names: Alexander M. Capron (Chairman), Ruth Faden (Deputy Director), David J Gansler (Director), Stephen L Keeney Jr., Norman F Justus, and Frances K Weikart.

  1. William Pollitzer briefs a committee on a Public Health Service proposal to extend its research into why black males are disproportionately affected by syphilis and other venereal diseases in Macon County, Alabama.

This is Dr. William Pollitzer, a public health officer working for the Public Health Service (PHS), who was a member of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study Oversight Committee and its lead investigator. He’s briefing a committee on a Public Health Service proposal to extend its research into why black males are disproportionately affected by syphilis and other venereal diseases in Macon County, Alabama.

December 15, 1969

Jean Heller was a reporter for the Associated Press in 1969 when she broke the story of the Tuskegee study nationwide. Her article won a Pulitzer Prize and marked its 50th anniversary this year.

In an interview with NPR on December 6, Heller said she first heard about it from someone involved in the study. “He told me that they were lying to these men about their participation in this study and conducting experiments on them…and I thought — wow! That’s pretty incredible if true.”

An Associated Press reporter named Jean Heller breaks the story of the Tuskegee study nationwide.

The story of the Tuskegee syphilis experiment broke in 1972 when Jean Heller, a white woman who worked for the Associated Press and had grown up in New York City, wrote about it for a magazine called The Progressive.

Heller’s article was published when many Americans were still shocked by stories of racial injustice from their own experiences during World War II. However, her piece received much attention in 1976 when Morley Safer read it on 60 Minutes and decided to follow up with his investigative report on what had happened over those forty years.

Conclusion

The Tuskegee study is a dark chapter in American history. It’s a stain on our national character that must not be forgotten or glossed over, lest we repeat these heinous acts of medical racism. The victims of this experiment deserve recognition and justice for what happened to them—and the perpetrators should also be held accountable for their actions.