To what extent should the nature of the disease influence the availablility of pre-implantation diagnosis? Consider: persons homozygous for for cystic fibrois or Duchenne's Muscular Dystropy will develop the disease. Symptoms begin early and significantly reduce the quality of life, often leading to premature death. In contrast, individuals with an allele for Huntington's disease will not experience symptoms until later in life. Further, persons with a gene for breast or bowel cancer may not develop the disease at all. Preventative screenings for both cancers (mammograms and colonoscopies) are available. Who should decide: the government, voters, or should this be a private matter?

Is it acceptable for a sibling to offer bone marrow to another sibling suffering from a blood disorder? Is it acceptable to create a child who can donate cord blood at birth for the same person?

Great job, bloggers! Now, on to our next blog topic. I will be doing the posts this time; you will pick the posts you want to respond to. The next posts are a series of ethical questions regarding stem cells and in vitro ferilization. The blogging period begins Thurs. and continues until the end of the quarter. Just like last time, you can't post more than twice per day. You might want to pick a conversation you are interested in, and keep checking back to see how others have responded to you, or you may want to chime in on many topics. Enjoy!

Did they really have to "study them to death"?

The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment is widely known as a travesty among current populations within the United States. During the experiment, around 400 Black Men were contracted in to a study in which they were told they had "Bad Blood" and not that they had Syphilis. As the experiment went on, there was never any intention to tell them that they weren't actually being treated for this medical study, and there also wasn't any intention to inform the men they were being watched for Syphilis. During the study, the ending goal quickly changed as the cure for Syphilis, Penicillin, became available. These men were to be watched to see the acts of Syphilis on the human body until death. My Overall Question, is why do you think the researchers let these "patients" die off? Couldn't they have at least evaluated the subjects until they were close to death and given them the cure? I know this was a time where Blacks were not regarded as highly as others but really? REALLY? There was no reason for the subjects to not know they had syphilis, and to not know there was a cure. Obviously, the researchers would've known that an eventual effect of Syphilis is death.. Why let the Syphilis progress to such a point? Logically, there should've been a sensical stopping point within the research. Another Appalling fact, is that while procrastinating the spread of medicine like Penicillin to these people, Syphilis would spread even more to the wives, and children of these men.

Even as this research could've been valuable, the ways in which the data was achieved was extremely unethical. During a time of racism, and no laws regulating Consent Forms, it's logical that these 400 men didn't know what they were getting into, but to let them die for it when there was a cure? MEH,, not cool.

Tuskegee experiment gone wrong? I don't think so.

As humans, we are all aware that everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, has judged upon someone's abilities, back round, and traits based off of their ethnicities at least once during their lifetime. This form of judgment that can often lead to cruelty is what we define as "racism". For forty years, an experiment called. 'The Tuskegee Study,' that was only supposed to last for about six months, dragged along its dark path up to the point where doctors, general surgeons, and nurses decided it was okay to perform dangerous, life threatening studies upon poor black males. These colored men we're living in one of the poorest towns of Alabama and had the highest rate of syphilis during that time period. Clueless of what type of harm the experiment would bring upon them, about 700 males participated over the course of forty years thinking that they were about to get treated for "Bad Blood" and receive medical benefits due to their cooperation. In one of the articles, it was mentioned that most of these men (whom had families) were eager at the thought of free medical exams that as long as they were eligible for the experiment, they immediately went over to participate.

Here's where the problem ignited. Doctors and surgeons' goal in the beginning of the experiment was to find a cure for the black community who were constantly suffereing from syphilis. However, as the cost for further continuing the study increased, they were no longer able to afford drugs that might be able to cure them of the disease. In turn, these people who had no right in making the decisions on their own about who lives or dies, made up their mind that they will continue the study as an experiment to see the effects of syphilis in these poor men rather than trying to treat it. Even after penicillin was discovered as the first and foremost cure for syphilis, doctors and nurses did everything to make sure the participants wouldn't be able to get a hold of the drug. As much as this was their desire to see the effects of the disease, it is considered murder and their race had played a part in their decision making process. As soon as the official decided it was ok for them to keep secrets from the participants and allow the disease to persist in some of the individuals, they were determined to see the dying process out of curiousity. As one of the PHS officials said, this experiment honestly didn't do anything to get them closer to their original goal. Now that we know that the experiment could've been terminated at the start when medicine was no longer purchasable, it's time to determine what was truly morally wrong about this experiment. Did the officials that carried out this experiment truly further carry on this experiment thinking it would benefit future studies by looking at the effects of syphilis in patients and recording down useful information or was this unethical experiment carried out for too long by heartless people knowing that it would not greatly benefit medical research? Also, think about if the officials would've made a more 'moral' decision if the same problem aroused in a rich, white community.

Patients side

After reading the information on the Tuskegee syphilis experiment I was of course very disturbed and saddened by what happened to these men. But being black myself I cant help but think about if I was a black man back during the time when the study was going on. I would have had pretty close to no rights and nothing going for me. I would have been a sharecropper struggling to make ends meat everyday. At the time, if someone came to me and asked me to take part in a study and told me I would get my medical bills, my meals and my burial insurance for free I would probably do it. Try and put yourself in the shoes of a black man back during the time of this study. Think about what you would have going for you and what you can gain from doing this study. Does this change your mind? What would you do?

A Precedent set

We can all agree that this study was not very well monitored by the government, and the horrific things that were being done had just slipped under the radar until the story was broken On July 25, 1972. The most disgusting thing to me was the fact that this went on within my parents, and grandparents life time. The fact that a study like this could go on, and not be caught was very frightening to me, but in a sense it had to happen eventually. Our government would never realize that they need to keep a careful eye on the scientific community unless they actually have evidence to support this claim. Not only would they not realize it is a problem, but also for the government to get funds to support the Public Health Service and the monitoring off studies like this, they need a study like this to show the American citizens how necessary it is. I am not happy the study happened, but I am happy that it was exposed for what it was, Irresponsible scientific research. I believe this study, widened the eyes of America. We cannot trust the word of every doctor or scientist, because, though there are those out there trying to help human kind, others are willing to do whatever they can to get that fame and attention. That kind of scientific advancement is what we need to be careful off as citizens, and as a country. It all comes back to the idea of Risk vs Benefit. to what lengths are we willing to go, for a scientific study? The Tuskegee Study made America more conscious of this idea of Risk vs Benefit. We began to question things such as stem cell research. Yes they are trying to help people, but what ethical dilemmas are they facing along the way. Citizens now are more aware of how studies are conducted, and exactly what type of research goes into science, not just the results. In retrospect I think a great Precedent for science was set, when the Tuskegee study was exposed, and I ask you to think about, how do you think science would be different today, If studies such as the Tuskegee experiment and the Nazi experiments were not exposed, and science was left unmonitored by the Government? Would we have more advances in Medical research? would people be unwilling to take part in studies? I hope this all makes sense...