Tuskegee+Testing-+Uzoamaka+Obodo

__Overview __ n 1932, “word spread word spread throughout Macon County that ‘government doctors’ were to provide free exams to start a new health program” (“The Tuskegee"). These unassuming people were unaware of the malicious intent of their supposed caretakers. Little did they know, they were the subjects of extensive research- but unlike most- they were not receiving experimental drugs. They were being forced to the endure the symptoms of Syphilis. According to Fred D. Gray,” though the main purpose of the study was to discover the effects of //untreated// syphilis, the doctors continued to lead the participants to believe that they were receiving treatment for “bad blood. These men were also not informed about the basis of the study, but instead were told that they would be receiving “free treatment from government doctors” (“The Tuskegee”). Both the syphilitic group and the control group were not to receive any medication or treatment of any kind from local hospitals or doctors. Their names were put onto lists given to local hospitals, and they were told not to treat the patients” (“The Tuskegee”). Instead they received “ aspirin or other ineffective means of treatment” (“The Tuskegee"). __Payback __ Survivors, realizing the injustices imposed upon them put together a lawsuit. They sued on the basis that:  1) The U.S. government violated the constitutional rights of the participants…  2) The government knew the participants had syphilis and failed to treat them.  3) The Public Health Service failed to fully disclose to the participants that they had syphilis, that they were participating in the study, and that treatment was available for syphilis.  4) The Public Health Service led the participants to believe that they were being properly treated for whatever diseases they had, when in fact, they were not being meaningfully treated.  5) The Public Health Service failed to obtain the participants’ written consents to be a part of the study.  6) The Study was racially motivated and discriminated against African Americans in that no whites were selected to participate in the Study…  7) There were no rules and regulations governing the Study.” Out of the 408 original crew, only 7 survived to receive reimbursement. They received $10 million which was split among the 7 survivors and distributed to the families of the deceased. May 16, 1997, President Clinton publicly apologized for the harmful and prejudice injustices that the government had committed against the participants of the study.