Tuskeegee

Brdgt of Fear of a Female Planet has an entry about the the problematic four decade study of Syphilis in African-American men.

Implicit in this are two major assumptions 1) these men would never seek treatment on their own 2) they never had any intention of treating them (there was a treatment for syphilis available in 1932, and a cure after World War II). It's findings were published in various respected journals. There was no outrage until 1972. Why did the study go on for so long when the findings were essentially "untreated syphilis causes death?"

Medicine, USA, 20th Century