Tuskegee Syphilis Study

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study (1932–1972) was a clinical study, conducted around Tuskegee, Alabama, where 400 poor, mostly illiterate African American sharecroppers became part of a study on the treatment and natural history of syphilis without due care to its subjects. This notorious study led to major changes in how patients are protected in clinical studies. Individuals enrolled in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study did not give informed consent and were not informed of their diagnosis; instead they were told they had "bad blood" and could receive free treatment.

Related Topics:
1932 - 1972 - Clinical study - Tuskegee, Alabama - African American - Sharecroppers - Syphilis - Informed consent

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Critically, by 1947 penicillin had become standard treatment for syphilis. Prior to this discovery syphilis frequently led to a chronic, painful and fatal multisystem disease. Rather than treat all syphilitic subjects with penicillin and close the study, the Tuskegee scientists withheld penicillin or information about penicillin purely to continue to study how the disease spreads and kills. The study continued until 1972, when a leak to the press rather than any ethical or moral consideration resulted in its termination. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study is often cited as one of the greatest ethical breaches of trust between physician and patients in the setting of a clinical study in the United States. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study led to the Belmont Report and establishment of National Human Investigation Board, and the requirement for establishment of Institutional Review Boards.

Related Topics:
Penicillin - 1972 - Belmont Report - National Human Investigation Board - Institutional Review Board

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