Tuskegee Study example essay topic

As President Bill Clinton said in his Apology Speech for the Study done in Tuskegee, It was a time when our nation failed to live up to its ideals, when our nation broke the trust with our people that is the very foundation of our democracy. And the third reason I believe it affected our society, is that of course, we have to live with the shame of having harmed in some ways a culture of our own. Our brothers and sisters in my point of view. To see that our society actually damaged and disregarded people is shameful.

It is not something you want to keep on ignoring but bring it up so it can rest in peace when the time comes and we all forget. But its there and its alive in others peoples hearts. It is a trace, and the only thing we can do with it is try to rectify our attitude. Bill Clinton again: It is not only in remembering that shameful past that we can make amends and repair our nation, but it is in remembering that past that we can build a better present and a better future. And without remembering it, we cannot make amends and we cannot go forward. In conclusion, what happened in the Tuskegee Study, is that researchers forgot the most basic rules on ethic.

They forgot the pledge they did as doctors. And they were the only ones in charge. They, sadly, misused that power by not informing their patients of their current conditions and not letting them make their own decisions but taking them themselves. It is something we should all be aware so we wont commit it ourselves. And let our society get stronger but not merely because of fear, but because of trust. And allowing that word, trust, have a real meaning.

When the press broke the story of the Tuskegee experiments in 1972, the revelations provided yet another spur to the development of modern bioethics standards. In 1997 President Clinton issued a formal apology to the survivors of the Tuskegee Study and their families. (Remarks by President Clinton. 1997) Today clinical studies continue to present bioethical challenges. Designing safe clinical experiments and balancing the need for scientific objectivity against concern for the human subjects can be a difficult proposition. An ethical dilemma is often presented by the standard practice of using a placebo in a trial for a new drug or other medical innovation.

A placebo is an inactive substance that is given to some subjects in a study in order to help researchers judge the real effects of the compound being tested. But is it ethical in the trial of an AIDS drug, for example, to give a useless placebo to persons suffering from a potentially fatal condition when other persons in the study are receiving what may be a beneficial drug? That is just one question that medical ethicist's weigh in the design of experiments involving humans. (Aarons. 1995) Use of placebos: Clinical trials permit use of placebos in certain circumstances, but their use is problematic when an appropriate treatment already exists. Drug companies are often reluctant to compare their new discoveries against a proven therapy, especially against a therapy which may soon go generic, because they may not ultimately establish an efficacy or cost advantage.

Accordingly, drug companies seek to avoid this risk at the same time that doctors feel ethically obligated to give patients proven therapies even as a new one is being investigated. The most dramatic examples of this dilemma in the HIV / AIDS context arose in trials investigating the prevention of transmission of HIV from mother to child during pregnancy and childbirth. Early studies had already shown a 50% reduction in transmission through the administration of AZT or nevi rapine, and yet some investigators continued to use a placebo control group even through infants were thereby exposed to a twice-higher risk of contracting HIV. (Connelly. 1987).