Laws/Policies/Reports Created
The government took several steps to make sure something as horrific as the Tuskegee Syphilis Study never happened again. They also took many steps to pay respect for the unfortunate events that occurred. First, the government built a memorial in Tuskegee, Alabama and the Department of Health and Human Services gave a grant to Tuskegee University. Second, the appointing Secretary of Health and Human Services wrote a report about how minorities (black) communities can be involved in health care. Third, the government strengthened training for medical researched in bioethics. They are now required to train in the field of respecting individuals, asking for consent, and using moral principles in diverse communities/environments. Lastly, the government offered fellowships to train bioethics about the understanding of ethical issues.
When the government granted $200,000 to Tuskegee University, they created a plan to make the nation's first bioethics center which would focus on science, law, and religious faiths in medical researches. The center launched two years after President Clinton’s apology speech to the nation. Since that date, more than twenty million dollars have been given to Tuskegee University to help run the center.
When the government granted $200,000 to Tuskegee University, they created a plan to make the nation's first bioethics center which would focus on science, law, and religious faiths in medical researches. The center launched two years after President Clinton’s apology speech to the nation. Since that date, more than twenty million dollars have been given to Tuskegee University to help run the center.
The government also created many laws and passed numerous policies to ensure that all future medical researches would be conducted adequately. The National Research Acts were signed on July 12, 1974 and created the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Bio-medical and Behavioral Research. The National Research Acts were responsible for identifying three principles that should be the basis of medical research that involves human subjects. These acts were directed to consider the boundaries between medical research and behavioral research, risk-benefit criteria in determining human subjects for research, guidelines for selecting human subjects, and the consent of the participants before beginning the research. Also in 1974, regulations required researchers to obtain informed consent from people taking part in an experiment funded by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (DHEW). All DHWE studies which included humans had to be passed by the Institutional Review Board and they would decide if the study met ethical and moral standards. Finally, on October 1995, President Bill Clinton created the National Bioethics Advisory Commission which reviewed regulations and policies to make sure studies being conducted were safe and followed moral guidelines.
One of the committees that were created was called the JTCT committee. The JTCT committee was created to dedicate to publishing research which is proved successful by the laws of science and ethically reliable/responsible. In the issue of JTCT related to the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, two authors cited about the importance to spread the feeling that someone can be relied on among health care of African Americans. One of the authors, Harris, evaluated the conspiracy theories in African culture and another author, Kennedy, suggested an intellectual mode of racism which could predict health outcomes. Other authors talked about vulnerable and risky effects of racist medical studies.
There were also numerous reports created that talked about the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. The HEW Final Report formed the Tuskegee Syphilis Study Ad Hoc Advisory Panel on August 28, 1972 due the criticism that the press descriptions triggered. The panel consisted of nine members; five were African American. The issues they concentrated on were if the men had given their consent to participate in the experiment and if penicillin should have been provided when the discovery was made. The final report was released on June 1973 and it concluded that the failure to provide penicillin was an ethical misjudgment. It also stated that the USPHS had lied to the human subjects and that was morally wrong.
The Belmont Report was published in 1979 and it is required to be read by everyone who participates in medical researches. There were three basic principles that were created which related to human subject researches. First, the subjects were to be respected and the researchers must gain the consent of the participants before beginning the study. The participants also had to be told the correct information about the study and treatment options. Second, the subjects had to be told of the possible risks and benefits while participating in the study. Lastly, doctors or researchers in charge of the study cannot give out helpful treatment to a certain group of participants and not the rest. The participants also must be selected fairly and randomly; nothing to do with social, gender, or economic class.