Thursday, March 8, 2018

Tuskegee part 3

In the last section of the book, it explored the aftermath of the study and how it shaped the ethics of science for the future. The aspect I found interesting is when there was no mention of the study or worry about the study until they compared it to the Nuremburg Trials. When the first wave of question came around about the bioethics in study throughout America, they missed Tuskegee altogether. The reason for this was that researchers would us the word volunteer instead of research subject. Which I do not see how this would be a problem, because they were indeed volunteers. It even said that “ the Study was “visible” in the medical and public health literature” and that “invisible to the broader research communities”. (191) I feel that if you were looking for medical studies to prove that there needs to be a change in the ethic you would investigate the literature rather than just looking it up in mainstream search areas. Yes the study wasn’t having people being injected with the disease but I say they were when they refused to give the subjects the medicine once it came about. 
I also found it weird that there was no issue with the study until they started to compare it to the Nuremburg Trials. That this was the sparking point. I really feel that people were more scared of saying they were part of something that the Nazis did rather than look at what the reason is they are being called that. By compareing the study to the Nazis it caused people to stand clear of the study and see the PHS phsysicians as “barbarians”.( 193) Yet I raise the question that if we never compared it to to trails would there be light or a problem with the study? Would there have been such back fire and cause an uproar like it did, if we did not link the two?

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