August 24, 2019 • 7 mins
On this day in 1972, Merlin DuVal, an assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, announced that the Tuskegee Syphilis Study would be investigated. Learn more about the experiment in an episode of Stuff You Missed in History Class at https://www.missedinhistory.com/podcasts/tuskegee-syphilis-study.htm
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio. What's Up? Everyone? Welcome to This Day in
History Class, where we bring you a new tidbit from
history every day. Today is augusteen. The day was August
(00:25):
nineteen seventy two. Dr Merlin K. Duval, Assistant Secretary of
the U. S Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, announced
that there would be an investigation into the Tuskegee Syphilis Study.
The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Mail,
as it was called, began in nineteen thirty two. The U.
(00:49):
S Public Health Service had joined with the Tuskegee Institute,
a historically black school in Alabama, to study the natural
history of syphilis. At the time, philists and other sexually
transmitted infections were a major issue in the US. Large
scale efforts to fight s t I s had been
underway since World War One, during which s t I
(01:12):
S were a common cause for disability and absence from
duty in the army, but many people living in poverty
in rural areas still did not have access to treatment.
When they did have access to medicine, they were often
not able to afford it. The Public Health Service and
the Julius Rosenwald Fund of Philanthropic Foundation collaborated in treating
(01:36):
people with syphilis in the South in the late nineteen
twenties and early nineteen thirties, but the Great Depression hit
and in nineteen thirty two, the Fund pulled out of
the treatment program, which had expanded to five states. The
Public Health Service did not have the resources to continue
the program on its own, so instead of focusing on treatment,
(02:01):
the PHS decided to switch directions and study the effects
of untreated syphilis on living people. Black people were widely
affected by syphilis, and researchers were studying racial differences in
the effects of the s t I. The PHS turned
to the Tuskegee Institute, known for its service in black communities,
(02:23):
for help in launching its new study. In exchange, the
PHS paid Tuskegee, trained its interns, and employed its nurses.
The PHS also worked with black community leaders to encourage
participation in the study. Many people were willing to participate
since they had no access to medical care otherwise. On
(02:44):
top of that, participants got food and transportation, and family
members got burial stipends. In the beginning, six hundred black
men were signed up for the study, three hundred and
ninety nine with syphilis and two hundred and one who
did not have syphilis, but the participants were not told
that they had syphilis. Instead, they were told that they
(03:05):
had bad blood, a catch all colloquialism that was used
to describe several illnesses. The study was supposed to last
six months. Study participants were monitored, but they were only
given placebos like aspirin. That was even the case after
the PHS began to give people with syphilis penicillin as
(03:27):
treatment in nineteen forty three, and after penicillin became the
recommended treatment for syphilis in nineteen forty seven, the researchers
wanted to track the full progression of syphilis, so they
gave participants no effective care. Syphilis left untreated for many
years can spread to the brain or i and cause paralysis, dementia, blindness,
(03:52):
and even death. Still, once local health departments began working
with the PHS to track people who had left Macon County, Alabama,
they too kept study participants from receiving treatment. But in
the nineteen sixties, PHS employee Peter Buxton was an STI
interviewer and investigator and He found out about the Tuskegee
(04:15):
study and raised concerns about its ethics, but the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, which controlled the study, determined
that the study needed to continue with the support of
the American Medical Association and the National Medical Association. Officials
wanted to see the study through until participants died and
(04:38):
they analyzed all the data they collected, so Buxton leaked
the story, and in July of nineteen seventy two, Associated
Press reporter Jean Heller broke the story. The next month,
it was announced that an ad hoc panel would investigate
the study. The panel recommended ending the Tuskegee experiment immediately,
(05:00):
and on November sixteen, Merlin Duval, Assistant Secretary of Health
in the U s Department of Health, Education, and Welfare,
issued an administrative order shutting it down. By then, twenty
eight participants died from syphilis, a hundred others died from
syphilis related complications. Forty spouses of participants had also been
(05:22):
diagnosed with syphilis, and the infection had been passed to
nineteen children of the participants. In nineteen seventy three, Senator
Edward Kennedy held Congressional subcommittee meetings that resulted in new
guidelines for working with human subjects and US government funded studies.
(05:42):
That same year, a class action lawsuit was filed on
behalf of the participants in their families. A ten million
dollar out of court settlement was reached. In nineteen seventy four,
the Tuskegee Health Benefit Program was created, and it began
providing lifetime medical benefits and burial services to living participants,
(06:03):
two spouses of the living and deceased participants, and to
their children. The last study participant died in two thousand four.
The unethical experiment ignited a deep distrust in public health
institutions among Black Americans. I'm Eaves, Jeff Coote, and hopefully
you know a little more about history today than you
(06:25):
did yesterday. Keep up with us on Twitter, Instagram, and
Facebook at t D I h C podcast. Thanks for
joining me on this trip through time. See you here
in the exact same spot tomorrow. For more podcasts from
(06:55):
I Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
This Day in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio. What's Up? Everyone? Welcome to This Day in
History Class, where we bring you a new tidbit from
history every day. Today is augusteen. The day was August
(00:25):
nineteen seventy two. Dr Merlin K. Duval, Assistant Secretary of
the U. S Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, announced
that there would be an investigation into the Tuskegee Syphilis Study.
The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Mail,
as it was called, began in nineteen thirty two. The U.
(00:49):
S Public Health Service had joined with the Tuskegee Institute,
a historically black school in Alabama, to study the natural
history of syphilis. At the time, philists and other sexually
transmitted infections were a major issue in the US. Large
scale efforts to fight s t I s had been
underway since World War One, during which s t I
(01:12):
S were a common cause for disability and absence from
duty in the army, but many people living in poverty
in rural areas still did not have access to treatment.
When they did have access to medicine, they were often
not able to afford it. The Public Health Service and
the Julius Rosenwald Fund of Philanthropic Foundation collaborated in treating
(01:36):
people with syphilis in the South in the late nineteen
twenties and early nineteen thirties, but the Great Depression hit
and in nineteen thirty two, the Fund pulled out of
the treatment program, which had expanded to five states. The
Public Health Service did not have the resources to continue
the program on its own, so instead of focusing on treatment,
(02:01):
the PHS decided to switch directions and study the effects
of untreated syphilis on living people. Black people were widely
affected by syphilis, and researchers were studying racial differences in
the effects of the s t I. The PHS turned
to the Tuskegee Institute, known for its service in black communities,
(02:23):
for help in launching its new study. In exchange, the
PHS paid Tuskegee, trained its interns, and employed its nurses.
The PHS also worked with black community leaders to encourage
participation in the study. Many people were willing to participate
since they had no access to medical care otherwise. On
(02:44):
top of that, participants got food and transportation, and family
members got burial stipends. In the beginning, six hundred black
men were signed up for the study, three hundred and
ninety nine with syphilis and two hundred and one who
did not have syphilis, but the participants were not told
that they had syphilis. Instead, they were told that they
(03:05):
had bad blood, a catch all colloquialism that was used
to describe several illnesses. The study was supposed to last
six months. Study participants were monitored, but they were only
given placebos like aspirin. That was even the case after
the PHS began to give people with syphilis penicillin as
(03:27):
treatment in nineteen forty three, and after penicillin became the
recommended treatment for syphilis in nineteen forty seven, the researchers
wanted to track the full progression of syphilis, so they
gave participants no effective care. Syphilis left untreated for many
years can spread to the brain or i and cause paralysis, dementia, blindness,
(03:52):
and even death. Still, once local health departments began working
with the PHS to track people who had left Macon County, Alabama,
they too kept study participants from receiving treatment. But in
the nineteen sixties, PHS employee Peter Buxton was an STI
interviewer and investigator and He found out about the Tuskegee
(04:15):
study and raised concerns about its ethics, but the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, which controlled the study, determined
that the study needed to continue with the support of
the American Medical Association and the National Medical Association. Officials
wanted to see the study through until participants died and
(04:38):
they analyzed all the data they collected, so Buxton leaked
the story, and in July of nineteen seventy two, Associated
Press reporter Jean Heller broke the story. The next month,
it was announced that an ad hoc panel would investigate
the study. The panel recommended ending the Tuskegee experiment immediately,
(05:00):
and on November sixteen, Merlin Duval, Assistant Secretary of Health
in the U s Department of Health, Education, and Welfare,
issued an administrative order shutting it down. By then, twenty
eight participants died from syphilis, a hundred others died from
syphilis related complications. Forty spouses of participants had also been
(05:22):
diagnosed with syphilis, and the infection had been passed to
nineteen children of the participants. In nineteen seventy three, Senator
Edward Kennedy held Congressional subcommittee meetings that resulted in new
guidelines for working with human subjects and US government funded studies.
(05:42):
That same year, a class action lawsuit was filed on
behalf of the participants in their families. A ten million
dollar out of court settlement was reached. In nineteen seventy four,
the Tuskegee Health Benefit Program was created, and it began
providing lifetime medical benefits and burial services to living participants,
(06:03):
two spouses of the living and deceased participants, and to
their children. The last study participant died in two thousand four.
The unethical experiment ignited a deep distrust in public health
institutions among Black Americans. I'm Eaves, Jeff Coote, and hopefully
you know a little more about history today than you
(06:25):
did yesterday. Keep up with us on Twitter, Instagram, and
Facebook at t D I h C podcast. Thanks for
joining me on this trip through time. See you here
in the exact same spot tomorrow. For more podcasts from
(06:55):
I Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
This Day in History Class News
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Gabe Luzier
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