1A – The Tuskegee Syphilis Study
Read the Tuskegee Syphilis Study ( DF1A – Tuskegee Syphilis Study.docx DF1A – Tuskegee Syphilis Study.docx – Alternative Formats ), a landmark case that highlighted the need for ethical research. The atrocities in this study led to, among other things, the creation of Institutional Review Boards for the protection of human subjects.
What ethical issues does this case present relative to nonmaleficence/beneficence and justice?
What questions does this case (and others like it) raise about the ability of the medical and scientific communities to be self-regulating?
What are the responsibilities of researchers to participants in a study? Do researchers have special obligations when the participants are members of vulnerable groups in society or socioeconomically disadvantaged?
Place yourself in the role of a researcher who was designing the Tuskegee Syphilis Study in the early 1930s. What argument(s), using a world view, would you make for why the study is important and should be conducted in the manner in which it did (this may be difficult to justify knowing what you know, and you may want to do a quick literature review).
1B – Coining
Read the document on Coining ( DF1B – Coining.docx DF1B – Coining.docx – Alternative Formats ).
Should you completely discount this treatment as useless, or could there be something gained from it? When should a physician step in to stop a cultural practice (remember that there is some pain in many of our medical procedures, for example, having one’s tonsils removed)?
Should the physician be concerned about alienating the mother and other people of her ethnicity from modern medicine?
Do you think that the physician should report the mother to authorities (e.g., Child Protective Services)?