On October 1, 2010, numerous news articles were released regarding the recently-discovered Syphilis experiment or “study” in Guatemala on unknowing mental health “participants.” Apparently, according to the numerous news articles including one from the Chicago Tribune found here where the doctor involved in the infamous Tuskegee experiment on African-American males in Alabama in the 1970s, Dr. John C. Cutler, and the National Institutes of Health, among other United States governmental organizations and the Guatemalan government, itself, knowingly participated and/or approved of the experiment on unknowing victims.

The United States apologized on Friday. President Barack Obama, himself, apparently expressed an apology to Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom as did U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. The National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins called the Tuskegee and Guatemalan studies:

a dark chapter in the history of medicine

According to the news articles, Wellesley College Professor Susan Reverby was responsible for uncovering the evidence of the experiment to infect people with Syphilis in an effort to explore treatments. Professor Reverby’s Synopsis on  “‘Normal Exposure’ and Inoculation Syphilis: A PHS ‘Tuskegee’ Doctor in Guatemala, 1946-48” published in the Journal of Policy History, Special Issue on Human Subjects, in January 2010 can be found onProfessor Reverby’s web site here.

Decades ago, a civil rights lawsuit was filed on behalf of victims and families involved in the Tuskegee Syphilis study on African-American males in Alabama against the United States and other governmental organizations. If you believe you or a loved one may have been affected by this newly-uncovered Guatemalan Syphilis study from the 1940s, contact us here immediately to discuss the situation. If we can determine that we can help you or your loved one, we would be truly honored to be an advocate for something so reprehensible and try to bring a sense of peace and justice to all.