Tuskegee Syphilis Study-Please Help!!

The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiments

~400 African American men infected with syphilis went untreated for four decades in a project the government called the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male. It Continued until 1972.

Because we all have goals and projects, we should never use people along the way in order to attain them. People are not objects to be used and disposed of. They have intrinsic value, dignity, and worth. They are rational beings and we must respect this rationality. This aspect of deontology is particularly appropriate in considering the treatment of humans in the clinical testing of medical treatments i.e., are these people not being treated as a means to an end? Even though that end may result in the positive treatment of thousands of people in the future? As well, what about the contribution or even selling of organs (especially in third world countries) in order to create a better life for oneself and family? Are we not simply treating people as a means to an end by creating a demand for a particular commodity?

Autonomy - the patient has the right to refuse or choose their treatment
Beneficence - a practitioner should act in the best interest of the patient
Non-maleficence - "first, do no harm”
Justice - concerns the distribution of scarce health resources, and the decision of who gets what treatment (fairness and equality).
Dignity - the patient (and the person treating the patient) have the right to dignity.
Truthfulness and honesty - the concept of informed consent has increased in importance since the historical events of the Doctors' Trial of the Nuremberg trials and Tuskegee Syphilis Study.