Tuskeegee Study Miss Evers Boys

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Miss Ever’s Boys The Tuskegee Study was one of the most well-known experimentations in scientific history not only because of who it was conducted on, Negro males with syphilis, and for how long, but also because a guideline was created to help protect human subjects in research from it. This guideline is called The Ethical Principles and Guidelines for the Protection of Human Subjects of Research, commonly known as ’The Belmont Report”. Plenty of controversy was stirred up when the Ad Hoc Advisory Panel became involved, thus shutting down the experiment, forty years into it. When beginning a research study there are two concepts one should consider prior to anything else, knowing the definition of means and ends. “Means are the tools or behaviors that one employs to achieve a desired outcome [either good or bad]. Ends are those outcomes that one desires to achieve [either good or bad as well]. (pg 27) The Tuskegee Study had bad means with bad ends, being that the doctors and researchers knew they were going to misinform their patients, in hopes they would stay with the study. This was deliberately intended unethical behavior. Although the researchers, doctors and nurses took care of these men, they did not properly inform them of the outcome from having “bad blood”, syphilis. In the movie, Miss Ever’s Boys, Doctor Douglas tried explaining to a room full of infected men how they had syphilis in the most layman’s terms, but most just nodded their heads. Nurse Evers recognized this, as she decided to explain it to them in a sense they would understand, even more broken down. The men trusted her, unfortunately. Understandably she was just doing her job, as she announced in court, retelling the story to the Ad Hoc panel. This included nine members ranging from fields of law, religion, medicine, labor and education, health administration and public affairs. (CDC)

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