Ahliyah Williams
Dr. Hinks
Sun July 14
Artifact 5: Ethics and Infectious Disease
Help Received: NONE Ahliyah Williams
1,2,3 Syphilis Is Coming For You
When talking about being ethical your talking about humanity, compassion, and leadership. When something or someone is unethical they lose all of those characteristics. They don’t care about what’s right or wrong. Syphilis has made itself in some of the most unethical situations. From congenital syphilis to biases among certain types of people, especially immigrants, syphilis has been experimented among people to help find more information on the disease. The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment shows the unethical degree that the government will go. Syphilis being passed to babies is a topic that is discussed as a possible unethical situation. ‘The Great Pox’ aka, syphilis was nicknamed that because the fear it caused people in the 15th to 17th century, but it was also a fear of people even now that makes Blacks feel fear towards a certain race of doctors and is cruelly passed to babies.
In the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, 600 poor Black men were experimented on to gain more information about the disease syphilis, in return they received free medical treatments, burial insurance, and free meals. They were used as test dummies basically to help the government figure out more about the disease. Instead of helping the 399 African- American men infected with the disease The Tuskegee Experiment became unethical when penicillin was offered as a treatment, but not given to the subjects of the Tuskegee Experiment. The worst thing about syphilis is that it is a venereal disease which means it is transmitted through sexual intercourse or contact. People in Macon County were seen as a “natural laboratory” in Telford Clark, head of the VD Division. African- Americans were seen as unintelligent, so they were easy to get over on them and proposed to use them as “less expensive research”. Of course syphilis was used attempted to be rationalized by researchers. Some saying that if the men did not participate in the experiment, than they wouldn’t have received all the other free treatment that they have.
Congenital syphilis is when syphilis is passed down to a fetus from the parent. Some years it may even take years to appear in a person. Children with congenital syphilis shows signs of syphilis with the appearance of teeth that have ridges in it (Hutchinson Disease), disfigured noses (Saddle Nose), nasal infections (Snuffles), and sharp shins (saber shins). The reason why syphilis seems so unethical is because it can appear in these affected children months, even years later when they have already had children. Congenital syphilis was actually a problem in the Tuskegee Experiment. 19 of the 399 men were born with congenital syphilis. Syphilis has been prevalent in women, men, and children according to Medical News and Perspectives. Treponema Pallidum, is a bacteria that causes syphilis. It can be reasonable to see why having a child with being infected with syphilis could be unethical. It is seen that “40% of newborns born by untreated women with syphilis are stillborn or die shortly after”(Rubin. Why Are Mothers Still Passing Syphilis to Their Babies?. American Medical Association) But, it is not all the females fault, people with syphilis could show no signs of it. That’s why screening while pregnant is essential. Something that is unethical in this situation is that even with the knowledge that screening is so important, some doctors do not do it in the third trimester because they assume that if the first screening comes back negative, they are syphilis free. Which is very ignorant of them.
In conclusion, in the end, The Tuskegee Experiment was a blatantly racist and unethical event in history that used syphilis to undermine the fact that the government used a race looked at as unintelligent and easy to get over to gain more information about a disease. Made to seem reasonable by including the fact that they received free medical treatment. Congenital syphilis in mothers passed to their babies has been increasing at an alarming rate. It has been seen as unethical because not only are babies getting this disease and cruel symptoms such as saddle noses, but mothers are not being screened correctly by the doctors who are supposed to be educated enough about this subject. All-in-all syphilis, also known as the ‘Great Pox’ should be feared by many as it is silent, but deadly.
References
The Deadly Deception. Youtube.
Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. Wikipedia.
What Does It Mean To Be Ethical. BizFluent.
Rare Disease Database. NORD.
Syphilis at Tuskegee. CDC.
The Tuskegee Timeline. CDC.
You’ve Heard of Smallpox, But What Was the Great Pox? How Stuff Works.
- The Rationalization of Unethical Research: Revisionist Accounts of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and the New Zealand “Unfortunate Experiment” PMC.
Rubin. Why Are Mothers Still Passing Syphilis to Their Babies?. American Medical Association.
Women and Heterosexual Men With Primary and Secondary Syphilis. CDC