TERMINATION
"The USPHS violated its responsibility to oversee the rights of the citizens."
- Jean Heller, investigative reporter in a student phone interview (2014)
STUDY EXPOSED
Peter Buxtun, a USPHS employee, expressed his dissent in letters to the Centers for Disease Control in 1966 and 1968.
I wrote to CDC Atlanta requesting information on the Tuskegee Study and was surprised to receive what seemed to be the entire, near-complete file of published reports ... I was shocked by statements such as: 'An important phase of the study has been the performance of autopsies' ... 'mortality and morbidity are consistently higher among the untreated syphilitics,' and other passages which indicated the participants did not realize what was happening to them." - Peter Buxtun, whistleblower of the Tuskegee Study,
on how he discovered the study (1973) |
Excerpt from a student phone interview with Jean Heller, on how she learned about the study
"... I had grave moral doubts as to the propriety of this study. While I could see the justification and propriety of the study at its inception, and even up to the time of the widespread use of penicillin, I could not condone the continuation of this study up to the present day." - Peter Buxtun, whistleblower of the Tuskegee Study, in a letter to Dr. William J. Brown (1968)
|
Buxtun’s letters raised concerns to the CDC about how the study could affect its political reputation.
"February 1969. The CDC convened a blue ribbon panel to discuss the Tuskegee study. The group reviewed all aspects of the experiment and decided against treating the men. This decision ended debate on the Tuskegee study's future: It would continue until "end point." The committee also recommended that a major thrust be made to upgrade the study scientifically." - Stephen B. Thomas and Sandra Crouse Quinn, authors of "The Tuskegee Syphilis Study, 1932 to 1972: Implications for HIV Education and AIDS Risk Education
Programs in the Black Community" (1991) |
LEAKED
Brown responded to Buxtun's letters, stating that the 1969 committee "did not agree nor recommend that the study group be treated". Buxtun took action, delivering his letters to Jean Heller, "a reporter with the Associated Press" (Stephen B. Thomas and Sandra Crouse Quinn 1991).
Excerpt from a student phone interview with Jean Heller
"Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., presents the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for the best newspaper coverage to Jean Heller, of the Associated Press Special Assignment Team, Thursday in Washington. Miss Heller won the honor for her series on the Tuskegee Syphilis Study." ("Plain Dealer" 1973)
|
("The New York Times" 1972)
|
AD HOC PANEL
"HEW finally formed the Tuskegee Syphilis Study Ad Hoc Advisory Panel on August 28, 1972, in response to criticism that the press descriptions of the experiment had triggered. The panel, composed of nine members, five of them black, concentrated on two issues. First, was the study justified in 1932 and had the men been given their informed consent? Second, should penicillin have been provided when it became available in the early 1950s ? The panel was also charged with determining if the study should be terminated and assessing current policies regarding experimentation with human subjects. The group issued their report in June 1973."
- Allan M. Brandt, author of "Racism and Research: The Case of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study" (1978)
The experiment was determined "ethically unjustified" as "[s]ubmitting voluntarily is not informed consent" (Stephen B. Thomas and Sandra Crouse Quinnn 1991).
"As recommended by the Tuskegee Syphilis Study Ad Hoc Advisory Panel, I have decided that the "Tuskegee Study" as a study of untreated syphilis must be terminated" - Dr. Merlin K. DuVal, Assistant Secretary to the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in 1973
Furthermore, "[w]ithholding of penicillin, after it became generally available, amplified the injustice to which the group of human beings had already been subjected." They believed "the scientific merits of the Tuskegee Study are vastly overshadowed by the violation of basic ethical principles pertaining to human dignity and human life imposed the experimental subjects." ("The Final Report of the Ad Hoc Tuskegee Syphilis Panel" 1973)
|
|