Miss Ever’s boys’ film it’s a fractionalized interpretation of the Tuskegee study of untreated syphilis in the Negro Male between 1932 and 1972. It was a 40-year project in which the US government was tracking the course of the disease of the many black men living in Tuskegee, the essence of the study was to withhold treatment; the penicillin and determine whether the black Americans responded similarly to the effects of the disease just as like the whites. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to know if the penicillin was able to prevent and cure the syphilis infection and whether the disease had the similar effect to the blacks (Alsan, and Wanamaker, 2018 p,407) However, the participants who were infected by the disease did not get the medical treatment The United State government sent a medical investigation to the poor African black men in Alabama in Macon country. The research participants consisted of 600 black men of whom 400 were infected with the contagious disease and 200 were not infected.
The government used them in conducting medical research and by the end of 1972, only 74 men were alive,28 of them died of syphilis, 100 dyeings with related diseases and 40 infected their wives with the diseases while more than 18 children of the men were born with congenital syphilis (White, 2019 p.371). The population of Tuskegee was selected as it contained most of the black Africans who were not affected by the diseases and it was suitable for the study. The Americans needed to test whether the Penicillin had the same effect of curing and preventing syphilis to the blacks and hence Tuskegee was suitable. Eunice Ever and Dr. Brodus were chosen to facilitate the program as they could be able to curb syphilis spread among the African American in rural Alabama, Ever gratified to be able to serve the community and it was believed she was the only person that made the participants believe that they were receiving medical care which helped them to cure the disease. Ever was able to hold every information about the research although filled with the dilemma of whether to disclose the information to the participants, do her duty as a nurse or just assume everything. One of the strategies Ever used to convince the participants was that she went around the town announcing that the government was providing free medical care for bad blood. Ever was able to assuage their fear of the painful tabs which she called them back shots and making them believe it was not painful at all. Ever was very social to the patients and interacted with the participants very well that such that she was affectionate and had a bittersweet relationship with a syphilitic individual who announces his love for her (Barrett et.al 2019).
From the three strategies used by Ever, she violated the ethical nursing ethics of Truth-Telling and Patient Consent by lying to them that they would receive free medical treatment while they did not receive the treatment. On the same Ever violated the nursing Ethics on fidelity by having an extensive relationship with Calen which is not professional within the nursing practice. However, it was very kind of Ever who fully participated in providing care for the participants and demonstrated the act beneficence by having an interest in improving the lives of the people in her region through medical care of syphilis. The US government used their power to promise free treatments to the infected blacks and promised to give them food and since the men had no food and lived in a poor economy, they were lured to the experiment (Hermann, 2000).
The participants were illiterate who came from poor economic backgrounds giving reasons why the government took advantage of them. Mis Ever was driven by the act of compassion and altitude of providing good care of the participants which is an act of beneficence. She felt that her role was to console the infected men of whom most of them were her friends. She was very social to the participants such that she even made romance with Caleb, one of the participants, who later joined the army.
I feel very proud of Mrs. Ever who had such great compassion for helping the participants and gratified to serve her community after the invitation form the federal government to participate in the medical research. Although she learned the truth of the experiment, she was confused seeing that there was no medical care administered to the patients, making her have a great dilemma on whether to quit the research. In case I would have been invited in the research by the American government I would have helped syphilis infected individuals get the medical care by intervening with the American government, making them understand the medical needs of the community and the economic pressure the people face. This could greatly help the communities reduce the death rates and get the treatment of the infectious disease as well as improving the economic pressures of the community.
This case relates to a case where more than seven psychiatric studies were closed down in New York University after it was discovered there were ethical violations and falsifying records. This led to some researcher’s dismissal and closure of the research centers. The violation included tax oversight and having failed to keep accurate records. It involved an individual who was diagnosed with posttraumatic stress due to drug abuse and the researchers were investigating whether the untested drug could improve her conditions. The patient is reported to be sexually harassed by the researcher and administered a wrong drug which led to her deterioration and later death (NYU medical school stops studies after ethical violations, 2020)
.
Both cases NYU and violates the nursing ethics of justice. The patients are entitled to have justice and fairness. The research participants in the Tuskegee Study required treatment justice as they had been promised free medical treatment on syphilis. Relatively the patient was diagnosed. with posttraumatic stress required fair treatment with the right drug. However, the two cases differ with the unfairness, where the Tuskegee study was on racism, only black was meant to suffer from unfair treatment while the test was never done to the whites though the whites did it. The NYU research was not racist and it could have been a medical error or negligence.
Some of the research ethics available today that can prevent Tuskegee Study incidences are the principle of the informed concert, where the researchers have to understand why they are performing the research, as well the expected goals or outcome. The principle of anatomy and confidentiality protects the researchers in that only researchers who are willing to participate in the research are involved (Giunta, & Sharp 2020). Then the researchers are bound to have confidentiality and maintain the research information confidential. The Principle of deceptive practices applies to the Tuskegee Study
References
Alsan, M., and Wanamaker, M., 2018. Tuskegee and the health of black men. The quarterly journal of economics, 133(1), pp. 407-455.
Barrett, L.A., 2019. Tuskegee Syphilis Study of 1932–1973 and the Rise of Bioethics as Shown Through Government Documents and Actions. DttP: Documents to the People, 47(4), pp.61-16.\
Giunta, H., & Sharp, R. R. (2020). Can the Principles of Research Ethics Help Us Distribute Clinical Resources More Fairly?
Hermann, D. H. (2000). Lessons Taught by Miss Evers’ Boys: The Inadequacy of Benevolence and the Need for Legal Protection of Human Subjects in Medical Research. JL & Health, 15, 147.
White, R. M. (2019). Driving Miss Evers’ Boys to the Historical Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis. Journal of the National Medical Association, 111(4), 371-382.
