Sorry is NOT Enough

On October 1st, I read an article from the New York Times stating U.S. Apologizes for Guatemala Syphilis Experiment

And everyone thought that the United states were angels...

The experiment is very unethical of the U.S. medical research program. According to the Associated Press, American scientists intentionally infected prisoners and patients in a mental hospital in Guatemala with syphilis 60 years ago. They wanted to test if the drug Penicillin then relatively new, could prevent infection with sexually transmitted diseases. What makes this experiment so unethical is that none of the participants gave informed consent.

Strict regulations today make clear that it is unethical to experiment on people without their consent and require special steps for any work with such vulnerable populations as prisoners. But such regulations didn't exist in the 1940s (AP). Another reason why this research experiment is unethical is because it caused harm to its participants.

I feel sorry for those prisoners because the doctors let the disease run its course. Syphilis without treatment can lead to death with in a few years. If left untreated, syphilis can damage the heart, aorta, brain, eyes, and bones. In some cases these effects can be fatal. I am outraged that such research could have occurred under the guise of public health. It makes me sick to read that in Guatemala, 696 men and women were exposed to syphilis or in some cases gonorrhea, through jail visits by prostitutes or, when that didn't infect enough people, by deliberately inoculating them, reported Wellesley College historian Susan Reverby. Those who were infected were all offered penicillin, but it wasn't clear how many were infected and how many were successfully treated. Sorry is not enough for the people whose lives will never be the same because of these STDs.

xoxo,
Kat