Ethical Conduct in Scientific Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ethical Conduct in Scientific - Research Paper Example Suffering from latent syphilis meant that they had the infection but they showed no sign of the disease until late stages. For about 40 years, the poor men were never told that they were suffering from the disease and were never treated. Instead, they were only told that they had â€Å"bad blood† and were not given penicillin even though it was the standard cure for the disease that was available in 1947. The aim of the study was to find out whether syphilis affected the black men in a different way from the way it affected the white men (Katz & Warren, 2011). For participating in the study, men were given free ride to and from the Tuskegee clinic in Alabama. In addition, they were given hot meals and free treatment for minor ailments. For instance, they were given only aspirin and mineral supplements to cure minor ailments so that the treatment procedure could not interfere with their study. Much worse, even the 250 men from the Second World War drafted from the war to volunteer in the study, arrangements were made to make sure they remained part of the study. When the study ended in 1972, there was a public outcry and only 74 men of the original participants stayed alive. Other negative outcomes involved 28 men who died from syphilis and related complications, while 40 wives were infected with the disease and 19 children suffered from congenital syphilis. Survivors of the study received financial compensation from the United States and President Bill Clinton was forced to declare on behalf of the state that US had done a shameful thing (Katz & Warren, 2011). United States demonstrated heinous acts in the study that were considered to be morally wrong. It was unethical for the Tuskegee clinicians to conduct the study without the consent of the patients, according to the World Health Organizations Declaration of Helsinki of 1964. Clinical centers must conform to the ethical conducts stipulated by the legal structures. However, in Tuskegee case, they