Miss Evers’ Boys
The film “Miss Evers’ Boys” focuses on the 1930’s Tuskegee study. The research was to observe how syphilis affected African Americans in comparison to whites. The sample of African Americans was told that they were being administered a long-term treatment, which was false. Viewers learn of the Tuskegee study from Nurse Eunice Evers’ point of view. She was an African American who knew the treatment administered to the sample was ineffective, and all she could do was console them.
The Tuskegee study was unethical and inhumane. After watching the film, I could not help but feel sorry for the people who were put to suffering for 40 years while some individuals knew the treatment they offered them could not help them. The public health service should be transparent and not use human beings as lab rats. In the case scenario presented in the film, the involved nurses and doctors violated the victims’ rights. It is so sad that the individuals affected with syphilis kept their hope alive that they would recover. In reality, the health practitioners attending to them were only there to monitor them and collect data.
The nurses and doctors who knew what was going on should have joined forces and rebelled against the inhumane act. Any practitioner aware that the patients were being given placebo and liniments and did nothing is equally evil as the organizers of the study. The Tuskegee study was with the Congressmen’s approval, which is intolerable for leaders. Leadership is about regarding people equally and representing their needs. Compensating the survivors of the study was good, but I also think that the people responsible for the unethical issue should have been punished.