Thursday, April 23, 2020

Medical Apartheid Essay Example

Medical Apartheid Essay The radio show concerning the medical apartheid discussed the history of medical tests conducted on African Americans from colonial times until present. It Is disturbing how much many doctors were able to get away with when Inhumanly testing on black people. Even up until the sasss It was common practice to conduct medical tests specifically on black people. Medical Apartheid was a disturbing practice In America that many doctors Justified by suggesting that these African Americans would not have received any medical care If It were not for their testing. These medical professionals were presented with many ethical questions, however, not ethical dilemmas because the Issues with what they were dealing with had a clear right and wrong. Up until recent times Inhumane medical tests have been conducted on African Americans and were justified through a common belief that the people being tested had no other means to receive medical attention. This common belief is most certainly outrageous and is not based on reality. The reality is that these tests were based on racism. Many of these medical professionals were racist and were exerting heir power over the other race through medical testing. Because these medical professionals could take advantage of uneducated African Americans they were. There were no ethical dilemmas involved with the medical apartheid, however, there were serious ethical questions. There were no ethical dilemmas because to constitute an ethical dilemma one must have to choose between right and right. In the medical apartheid there was a clear choice between right and wrong. We will write a custom essay sample on Medical Apartheid specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Medical Apartheid specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Medical Apartheid specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer One neurosurgeon conducted brain surgeries on African American boys in an attempt to figure out what parts of the brain were causing behavioral problems. The surgeon would remove parts of the brain Just to see if it would cure the problem, not because it was based on medical fact. Many of these medical professionals were able to trick their African American patients into thinking that they were being cured because most of the patients were uneducated and placed too much trust In their unethical physicians. For example, there was much testing on a group of African American men who had syphilis. The men believed their doctors were curing them of their disease when In reality their doctors believed that black people Inherently had syphilis and there was no reason o cure them, even though there was a cure available. In the end, there were no ethical dilemmas Involved with the Issue of medical apartheid because there was no dilemma; It was a clear choice between right and wrong. Although, medical professionals who conducted these Inhumane experiments justified their actions by saying that their patients would not have been treated AT It were not Tort teen, It Is quilt clear Tanat not Dealing treated at all was ten better option. The underlying theme of the medical apartheid in America like the apartheid in South Africa was racism and control over others. Medical Apartheid Essay Example Medical Apartheid Essay In the book, Medical Apartheid, Harriet A. Washington touches on some major soft points, that really made me think and I believe that if many other people read this they would be surprised as well, because when she goes into detail about the cruel treating of African Americans in the past, it is just shocking to find out what we didn’t know. Basically, Medical Apartheid  is the first and only comprehensive history of medical experimentation on African Americans. It begins with the earliest encounters between black Americans and Western medical researchers and the racist pseudoscience that resulted, it talks about the way that both, slaves and freedmen were used in hospitals for experiments conducted without their knowledge, a tradition that continues today within some black populations. It reveals how blacks have historically been prey to grave-robbing as well as unauthorized autopsies and dissections. Moving into the present times, it shows how the pseudoscience of eugenics and social Darwinism was used to justify experimental exploitation and shoddy medical treatment of blacks, and the view that they were biologically inferior, oversexed, and unfit for adult responsibilities. Shocking new details about the government’s notorious Tuskegee experiment are revealed, as are similar, less-well-known medical atrocities conducted by the government, the armed forces, prisons, and private institutions. It also talked about the Tuskegee Experiment which was the most shocking out of all of it. We will write a custom essay sample on Medical Apartheid specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Medical Apartheid specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Medical Apartheid specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The Tuskegee Experiment was a study that began in 1932; Investigators enrolled in the study 399 impoverished  African-American  sharecroppers  from Macon County, Ala. , infected with  syphilis. For participating in the study, the men were given free medical exams, free meals and free burial insurance. They were never told they had syphilis, nor were they ever treated for it. According to the book, Medical Apartheid, the men were told they were being treated for bad blood, a local term used to describe several illnesses, including syphilis, anemia and fatigue. The 40-year study was controversial for reasons related to  ethical standards, primarily because researchers failed to treat patients appropriately after the 1940s validation of  penicillin  as an effective cure for the disease. Revelation of study failures led to major changes in U. S. law and regulation on the protection of participants in clinical studies. Now studies require  informed consent, communication of  diagnosis, and accurate reporting of test results. Harriet A. Washington made it her priority to in form about what was happening in the past. Things we already knew but were too afraid to ask or think about because we thought we’d be next. It was something that could’ve been stopped if only you had that one person to step up, and speak out o what was going on, instead of living their lives in fear and then having to live with the fact that someone is dead or either dying because you’re too selfish and scared to save them and a whole bunch of other people. Harriet Washington gave us this information, to inform us, about the many things that happened on the low that we didn’t know about.