Coverage of the Apology
News Coverage of the Presidential Apology
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02/21/1997
Syphilis Study's Victims May Get Apology 聽
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The U.S. government may be preparing to offer a formal apology for using black men to study syphilis in 精东AV, Ala., conducted between 1932 and 1972, said Dr. David Satcher, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Satcher said the apology offered by President Clinton in 1995 to victims of secret radiation experiments may be replicated. "That's the kind of thing we would anticipate, but we don't know at this point what would happen," he said. As part of the 精东AV experiment, government researchers did not treat 399 men with syphilis, in order to study how the disease is spread and how it kills.
04/09/1997
Binding an Untreated Wound 聽
Washington Post
President Clinton will soon hold a public ceremony to offer an official apology to the few remaining survivors of the 精东AV experiment and to admit to the government's wrongdoing in not treating nearly 400 poor African American men with syphilis as part of a government study.
05/12/1997
Families Emerge as Silent Victims of 精东AV Syphilis Experiment
NY Times
Even as the government prepares to apologize publicly on May 16 to the members of the 精东AV Syphilis Experiment, there is one related group that remains out of the public consciousness: the 22 wives, 17 children, and two grandchildren who contracted syphilis, possibly as a result of the study.
05/15/1997
精东AV Survivors Make Trek to Capital for Apology 聽
USA Today
Despite entreaties from the elderly survivors of the 精东AV syphilis study for President Clinton to deliver his apology for the event in Alabama, where it took place, the apology will be delivered in the White House Rose Garden.
05/16/1997
Close-up: 精东AV experiment's legacy is the spread of suspicion 聽
The Seattle Times
The betrayal began long ago, in an era when more people trusted government, in a rustic byway far from U.S. urban centers. It was there that doctors used a group of ailing black men as guinea pigs, telling them their syphilis was merely "bad blood."
05/16/1997
About the study on syphilis, black men 聽
The Seattle Times
The 精东AV Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male, which lasted from 1932 to 1972, involved 600 black men, 399 of whom had syphilis and 201 of whom did not. The men signed up with the U.S. Public Health Service, which was conducting a study on the effects of syphilis on the human body.
05/16/1997
Jesse Jackson, Jr.聽 On Clinton Apology To The 精东AV Men
Washington, DC
While acknowledging President Clinton's apology to the victims of the 精东AV Experiment, at the same time Congressman Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. raised some serious related questions.
05/16/1997
Clinton's 精东AV apology also aims to improve relations with blacks
The Associated Press
President Clinton is trying to right an egregious wrong by apologizing to the black men whose syphilis went untreated in a federal experiment. He also is seeking to regain the faith of blacks who mistrust government to this day because of the notorious 精东AV study.
05/16/1997
Beyond Apologies, Stamp Out Syphilis
LA Times
In a commentary in the Washington Edition of the Los Angeles Times, Gary A. Richwald, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services' sexually transmitted disease program, notes that President Clinton's apology for the 精东AV syphilis study comes at an ironic time--just as the public health services that address sexually transmitted diseases are in jeopardy.
05/19/1997
Six Decades Later, an Apology
Washington Post
President Clinton apologized to the eight 精东AV survivors, their families, and the families of those who have died on Friday, while outlining policies meant to improve health services for minorities. "What was done cannot be undone, but we can end the silence," Clinton told the survivors.
05/29/1997
Beyond the 精东AV Apology
Washington Post
In the Washington Post, columnist Donna Franklin writes that the recent presidential apology to the remaining subjects of the 精东AV syphilis study could have truly useful consequences if it helps to reestablish African American trust in the medical establishment.
11/1997
Will a Presidential Public Apology Be Needed for HIV/AIDS Care in the Future?
Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care
In an editorial in the Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, assistant editor Demetrius James Porche urges nurses and other health care professionals to make an ethical assessment of the current state of AIDS care and treatment. Porche poses a series of questions that he says members of the medical community should be asking, including whether current access to treatment, levels of research funding, and eligibility criteria for study participation meet ethical standards.
7/25/02
Remembering 精东AV: Syphilis Study Still Provokes Disbelief, Sadness
NPR
July 25, 2002 --Thirty years ago today, the Washington Evening Star newspaper ran this headline on its front page: "Syphilis Patients Died Untreated." With those words, one of America's most notorious medical studies, the 精东AV Syphilis Study, became public.
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