Miss Evers’ Boys is a 1997 American movie based on the Tuskegee experiment, which runs for forty years from 1932 to 1972. The Tuskegee experiment, which was facilitated by the US federal government in secret, was a study to determine the effects of untreated syphilis. The experiment involved rural African-American men from the town of Tuskegee Alabama suffering from syphilis (Kavanagh and Konwiser). Unbeknown to these men, the federal government, refused to treat them for syphilis in spite of the fact that penicillin, which could cure them, was available. On the contrary, the participants were promised free medical treatment for what the government referred to as ‘bad blood’ only to give them placebos and mercury. Miss Evers, a small town nurse, was charged with the responsibility of recruiting participants for the intended study. This task may seem noble, but it presented Miss Evers with several ethical dilemmas since she forewent almost all of the ethical elements. The nursing profession is regulated by the Nursing Code of ethics (ANA) aimed at ensuring that nursing professionals avoid harming their patients. The main elements in this code of ethics are respected for autonomy, nonmaleficence, justice, and fidelity.
Miss Evers forewent almost all of these ethical elements mainly due to the secrecy attached to the entire experiment. The first element that Miss Evers forewent is the principle of nonmaleficence. According to this principle, medical practitioners are bound by a legal and ethical duty to avoid harming others at all costs while affording healthcare services (Ong-Flaherty et al., 2016). This is not to say that nursing professionals should rule out all harm since some harm is beneficial as it aids the healing process. However, the damage should not be automatic or intentional as in the case of Miss Evers who intentionally caused harm to the research subjects and their families. In essence, Miss Evers knew that the experiment would put the lives of the participants in the harm’s way considering that they were suffering from syphilis.
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Miss Evers never considered revealing to the participants regarding the objectives of the study in spite of these participants being her townsmen. Instead of informing the participants about the real intention of the ‘free treatment,’ Miss Evers made them believe that they were suffering from ‘bad blood’ and the treatment would cure it. Moreover, Miss Evers witnessed the participants’ health condition deteriorating as the medical team used mercury in the treatment, therefore, putting the participants in the harm’s way. As if this was not enough, Miss Evers convinced the men to undergo painful spinal taps to harvest spinal fluid for medical analysis. Consequently, most of the research participant died since the people tasked with ensuring they suffer no harm failed to adhere to the principle of nonmaleficence.
Miss Evers in pursuit of the government’s desire to conduct an experiment to track the progress of untreated Syphilis forwent the respect for autonomy element. According to this ethical principle, patients have the right to make their own decisions and choices about the treatment that they will receive (Kious, 2016). However, the patients in the movie were never allowed to make treatment decisions. Instead, Miss Evers lied to them to accept treatment without elaborating on what the treatment was all about. The patients were lied into believing that they were suffering from ‘bad blood’ and were not allowed a chance to determine their treatment options. Furthermore, Miss Evers did all she could to convince the participants that they would receive free treatment if they enrolled for the program. In essence, it was Miss Evers and the entire team who determined what was best for the patients thus locking them out of the decision-making process. As a result, the participants were subjected to unethical treatment, which claimed their lives, which could have been saved if they had a chance to decide their treatment.
References
Kavanagh, D., & Konwiser, K. (Producers), & Joseph Sargent, J. (Director). (1997). Miss Evers’ Boys [Motion Picture]. United States: HBO.
Kious, B. M. (2016). Respect for autonomy: deciding what is good for oneself. Journal of Medical Ethics, 42 (12), 769-775.
Ong-Flaherty, C., Banks, A., Doyle, M., & Sharifi, C. O. (2016). The meaning of evidence and nonmaleficence: cases from nursing. Online Journal of Health Ethics , 12 (2)
