receive drugs to treat their syphilis infections. But lifesaving drugs were purposely withheld so the “natural” course of the disease could be observed. The experiment ran for 40 years but was shut down after a leak to the press in 1972.
In this latest study, Powe and his colleagues conducted a random survey of 717 outpatients at 13 cardiology and general medicine clinics in Maryland. Thirty-six percent of participants were Black, the rest white.
After an in-depth explanation by a physician (either Black or white), each participant was asked to enroll in a mock trial of a cardiovascular drug.
Only 27 percent of Black American respondents were willing to participate, versus 39 percent of whites.
Among the study’s other findings:
- 24 percent of Black Americans reported that their doctors would not fully explain research participation to them, versus 13 percent of whites.
- 72 percent of Black Americans said doctors would use them as guinea pigs without their consent, versus 49 percent of whites.
- 35 percent of Black Americans said doctors would ask them to participate in research even if it could harm them, versus only 16 percent of whites.
- 8 percent of Black Americans more often believed they could less freely ask questions of doctors, compared with 2 percent of whites.
- 58 percent of Black Americans said doctors had previously experimented on them without consent, compared with 25 percent of whites.
When the element of distrust was removed from the equation, the proportions of Blacks and whites willing to enroll equalized to about a