Discuss An Ethical Dilemma In The Practice Of Public Health Such As

Discuss An Ethical Dilemma In The Practice Of Public Health Such As Discuss An Ethical Dilemma In The Practice Of Public Health Such As: Does Public Health Infringe On â€" Essay Example > Conducting Public Health Research on Indigenous AustraliansShould Australian public health officials be able to conduct research on Aboriginal Australians? This seems like a question that has a straightforward answer. Why not, since Aboriginals are also Australians, inhabitants on Australia before Europeans took over control. Actually, the history of the Australian government and its relationship with Aboriginals leaves a lot of room for scepticism whether those in mainstream Australian society can be trusted to do research on Aboriginals without infringing on their rights. There is no question that most researchers pride themselves on their objectivity and commitment to the truth. Also, the work of researchers, especially those in the public health arena, can be of direct benefit to the subjects in particular and to society as a whole when the results lead to changes in habit, the development of medication or health policies that improve the well-being of all in a community or a society. To understand why such a simple question as whether Australian mainstream researchers ought to be able to conduct research on Aboriginal populations one has to revisit the events in another country and in another era, the famous Tuskegee syphilis experiment in the United States, and draw parallels that will resonate with anyone who cares both about the health of Aboriginals and the future of Australia as a nation that deserves respect in the world. This paper argues that in order for those in mainstream Australia to regain the trust of the Aboriginal community independent referees chosen by Aboriginal leaders and perhaps with the input of the United Nations need to oversee any research involving Aboriginals. The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis (TSUS), though embedded in medicine and research, highlights some of the grim realities of America and what disregard for the lives of others can lead to. More than just being a classic case of neglect or disregard for the live s of others, this case showed in crystal clear terms that some of those in the mainstream placed no value at all on the lives of black people. In that study, which ran between 1932 and 1972 a study was conducted by the U. S. Public Health Service (USPHS) in rural Alabama. The study involved two groups of African-American men with syphilis who were followed through their lives up to death and autopsy. The control group comprised about 200 apparently non-syphilitic men of African-American heritage (White 2002). The main purpose of the study was to find out what syphilis does to the body. In other words, the government, which conducted the study, had not really been interested in treating the subjects of the study. The people who were enrolled in the study were told that they had “bad blood” and that they were being treated for it. Many of the African-Americans in the study were illiterate and thus they easily accepted what the government told them. “Bad blood, ” after all, w as a local term used to describe various illnesses including syphilis, anaemia, and even fatigue (Remembering Tuskegee 2002). In fairness, when the study began, there was no treatment for syphilis. By 1947, however, penicillin had become a fairly standard treatment for syphilis but the government did not provide the African-American syphilis subjects with the treatment. “For participating in the study, the men were given free medical exams, free meals and free burial insurance” (Remembering Tuskegee 2002). This was really the only “benefit” that the enrollees got for their participation, not the glory of contributing to some useful scientific or public health agenda and research. By the time the story was leaked to the media, forty years had passed, and most of the men were dead. Not only that, many wives and children had succumbed to infection.