There are many ethical issues that can rise when dealing with ways of treating or testing how to treat infectious diseases. Medical professionals must be very careful in their selection of who is tested, what is tested, and how whatever that is is tested. We have seen problems in history where certain groups of people are singled out or chosen as test-subjects because of their race, gender, religion, etc…  In many cases people seem to be chosen as test subjects because their lives were less valued than others. Along with this, many populations of specific races or religions automatically associated as the cause or carriers of certain illness, and thus were isolated, thrown into quarantine, or exiled. Medical professionals, especially today, must give and receive informed consent from all participants of any study, whether in developing countries or in established. All persons’ rights should not be infringed upon. It is up to professionals to educate and inform, but the ultimate right to partake in any vaccination or test research remains in the hand of the individual or the individual’s guardian.

According to “The Rationalization of Unethical Research: Revisionist Accounts of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and the
New Zealand ‘Unfortunate Experiment,’” researchers of the time defended themselves by stating that there were no actual medical codes in place relating to their actions, therefore they did not violate any law of medicine. The researchers of the experiment also argued that the participants knew what other treatments were available to them. The idea of consent from the patient had not been formally addressed or written out as rules that could have been violated, so the researchers of the Tuskegee experiment justified themselves in this (e15). However, the research was unethical. The researchers had medical professionals purposefully injecting horrifying diseases into specifically African American males without their knowing. The researchers were aware that they themselves were persistently infringing harm onto others.  They should have foreseen the legislation and respected all human lives, not just the whites’ as this seemed to be a target of race and gender.

Results of this experiment, and any like it, affect people’s willingness to trust and contribute to health organizations. Participants of the research study did so voluntarily. Betrayed, and exposed, the public of anywhere at any time in history would be hesitant and relunctant to participate in any health study that could even have the potential to change the world for the better. This experiment lead to the placement of actual legislation relating to the treatment of patients and outlined ethical procedures (that should be commonly known out of respect for all persons and the will to better all of society today).

Help received: class notes, reference page (The Rationalization of Unethical Research: Revisionist Accounts of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and the
New Zealand ‘Unfortunate Experiment’)