The Deadly Deception, a documentary which focuses on the deliberate unethical behavior of the US Public Health Service (USPHS) in government sponsored scientific research, highlights one of the most infamous and horrific clinical studies in history. Under the guise of focusing on the eradication of syphilis, the USPHS sponsored a study to observe the natural progression of untreated syphilis in African American men from Macon County, Alabama. In watching this documentary, I was most disturbed by the deception in recruiting the subjects for the study as well as the withholding of treatment once the cure for syphilis, penicillin, was fully developed and available.
In reflecting about the film, it is harrowing to think about the deliberate dishonesty and trickery employed against the participants to convince them to enroll and stay in the study. Generally speaking, the vast majority of the participants were impoverished and illiterate and were recruited under false promises of free medical treatment. Although I do not know the specific beliefs of the researchers, I assume that their maltreatment of the participants definitely had racial motivations and the population was intentionally chosen. While ethical standards have since been improved, none of the Tuskegee syphilis study participants gave informed consent as they believed they were suffering from “bad blood.” Subjects were also never told they had syphilis, the expected course of the disease, or treatment. They were given no knowledge about possible deadly consequences of being involved in the study.
Although it took such a tragedy for the US to create higher and more rigorous standards for research, it is still incredibly upsetting to view the blatant disrespect the scientists had for the participants and genuinely had no regard for the ruined lives of the African American men involved. Secondly, I was particularly disturbed that the participants in the study did not receive treatment for syphilis and that life-saving treatments were withheld for the benefit of the research. I cannot even begin to rationalize the decisions made by the researchers and doctors involved in the study to overlook the welfare and lives of the participants. I also do not understand how a doctor could value the results of their experiment over the life of a human being. It is incredibly disappointing and alarming that none of the men were treated with penicillin even after the antibiotic was proven to successfully treat syphilis.
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In my opinion, the atrocities committed against the men of Macon County represents an obvious disregard for human rights. For me, it is most disturbing that the researchers and doctors involved in the study were well respected in their fields and were employed and guided by the US government, an institution that all Americans should be able to trust. In conclusion, I think it is especially important that we continue to tell the story of the Tuskegee syphilis study so that such injustices in medical research never happen again.
