There is a dark yet repeated history of health officials infecting uninformed patients, or denying them care for the advancement of scientific knowledge. The first “vaccine” for small pox was created after a poor mans daughter was forcibly infected by the pox. The men of the Tuskegee study were subjected to false medical attention in order for researchers to research syphilis. Prison inmates and members of the military have also been subjected to infectious disease or experimental drugs without their knowledge or full understanding. These abuses of power by medical professionals serve to better the understanding of scientists so that they can go on to better understand, develop cures, and eventually cure patients from disease. However, their unethical practices have led some to fear medical professionals.

The men of the Tuskegee study were black males living in Alabama that had contracted syphilis. The U.S. government sent healthcare workers to study their infections believing that blacks carried a different strain of syphilis and that they would not succumb to its symptoms. After learning this was not true the researchers discovered that in order to keep white populations which they cared about, free from syphilis they must also keep black populations healthy. For 40 years a group of 400 men infected with syphilis were told they were receiving treatment while they in fact were given placebos. Many of the men died none were told that they were all participants in a racially based study, that was not meant to cure, or even help them.

It is believed that men of Attica Prison in NY were infected with polio in an experiment without prior understanding of the disease and what they were agreeing to undergo. Furthermore the other inmates and guards of the prison would have also been exposed to polio. Experiments like this have led many to distrust medical professionals and some now avoid receiving treatment from genuine medical professionals who follow appropriate medial ethics.