Verified Document

Ethics In Medical Experiments Research Paper

The Tuskegee syphilis study is one of the studies looked at for ethical violations in health care research. There are a few different violations that were part of this study. As Heintzelman (2003) notes, the study was conducted to see the course of untreated syphilis. They were subject to "spinal taps without anesthesia", and where subject to heavy metals therapy but were not given antibiotics when it became known that penicillin could treat syphilis. The latter in particular would form an egregious ethical violation, because the subjects could have been cured of their ailment, but the study continued anyway, meaning that the best interests of the subjects was not taken into consideration for this study. The subjects were never offered penicillin nor any way of exiting the study. The ethical concerns also included the issue of informed consent. The true nature of the study was not revealed to the subjects. They were told that they were being treated for bad blood, which didn't hold any meaning in the medical sense. They did not know that they were being studied for syphilis and did not have informed consent at any point in the study, which went on for more than 40 years (CDC, 2017). Thus,...

In this case, The Willowbrook State School was a home for mentally disabled children. It had a high rate of hepatitis, which nearly all residents had. There was some question as to whether they received it via exposure to the water or via direct means, but there was reason to believe that many were injected directly with hepatitis and others were "fed hepatitis-contaminated feces" (NPR, 2008).
There are obvious ethical issues here. First, if there was any direct action to give people hepatitis, that would go far beyond an ethical violation; it would constitute a criminal act. This would have been done without any sanction as a medical experiment, as Willowbrook was not that sort of medical institution that it would normally carry out such experiments. But even beyond that, the…

Sources used in this document:

References

CDC (2017). The Tuskegee timeline. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved March 24, 2018 from https://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/timeline.htm

Heintzelman, C. (2003) The Tuskegee syphilis study and its implications for the 21st century. The New Social Worker. Retrieved March 24, 2018 from http://www.socialworker.com/feature-articles/ethics-articles/The_Tuskegee_Syphilis_Study_and_Its_Implications_for_the_21st_Century/

NPR (2008). Remembering an infamous New York institution. NPR. Retrieved March 24, 2018 from https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87975196


Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Medical Research & Ethics Medical Research and
Words: 1958 Length: 5 Document Type: Essay

Medical Research & Ethics Medical Research and Ethics Conflict between Medical Research & Ethics Conflict between Medical Research & Ethics: Case of Tuskegee Syphilis Each day medical providers and researchers make decisions about what information is necessary to disclose to patients and under what circumstances they should make disclosures. In the clinical setting, the negative implications of a poorly considered disclosure decision can involve simple problems such as a patient being unaware that a

Clinical Research Ethics Medical Research Is the
Words: 1646 Length: 5 Document Type: Term Paper

Clinical Research Ethics Medical research is the most sensitive field of research in the entire field of academia. It is governed by several rules, regulations, and ethical standards. For instance, no research endeavor is allowed in case it hurts the life of any human being whether directly or indirectly. Secondly, any research that is to be done must meet environmental conservation measures and should not deride or harm human dignity in

Medical Ethics How Does the Study of
Words: 683 Length: 2 Document Type: Essay

Medical Ethics How does the study of medical ethics impact decisions in social services & healthcare? In the peer-reviewed Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, Professor Paul Adams explains that social work ethics "…focuses on the behavior required or expected of members of a profession," and like ethical principles in the medical profession, there are "…rules, obligations, and dilemmas" to confront in social work (Adams, 2009, p. 83). By studying medical

Medical Testing on Animals
Words: 952 Length: 3 Document Type: Term Paper

against experimentation on animals, and some are more compelling than others. Some people suggest that the practice is immoral because choosing to experiment upon animals is directly analogous to racial or sexual discrimination; or more closely related to discrimination on the basis of mental capacity. Others contend that it is wrong because, by their estimations, no clear advances in medical research have been made through animal experimentation, and alternative

Ethics of Research Education Administration
Words: 345 Length: 1 Document Type: Term Paper

EDUCATION ADMINISTRATION Education Administration: Ethics of ResearchThe use of ethics in research has been carried out for a long time. Informed consent is one of the ley concerns in research ethics, dating back to 1946. The Nuremberg Code was formulated in 1948, making it mandatory for the human participants to give informed consent after the German military conducted several medical experiments on soldiers kept as prisoners without their consent (University

Ethics of Prisoner Experiments Prisoner Experiments Prior
Words: 1307 Length: 4 Document Type: Essay

Ethics of Prisoner Experiments Prisoner Experiments Prior to the medical trial at Nuremberg physicians and scientists were largely free to conduct experiments on unsuspecting persons (Freyhofer, 2004, p. 9-10), including inmates inside America's prisons. When it was discovered that German physicians had been conducting inhumane experiments on death camp and concentration camp prisoners during WWII, the world was shocked that doctors were capable of such behavior. The American Military Tribunal in Nuremberg

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now