Victims Again: Litigation Ends on the US Public Health Service Syphilis Studies in Guatemala

Publication Title

Voices in Bioethics

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2024

Abstract

A US Public Health Service study conducted after World War II led to a research scandal involving the intentional infection of 1300 Guatemalans with syphilis and other STIs. That news initially prompted an apology by President Obama to the President of Guatemala and an investigative report from the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. Despite promises from the US Department of Health and Human Services to invest $1.8 million to “improve the treatment and prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases,” there is no record that such funding nor any money to compensate the families of people victimized in the research debacle has reached Guatemala. Litigation followed public disclosures. This article analyzes the litigation and explores the likelihood that this lawsuit may represent another episode in the re-victimization of people in Guatemala who still await redress for the wrongs done to their families more than 70 years ago.

Recommended Citation

Paul A. Lombardo, Victims Again: Litigation Ends on the US Public Health Service Syphilis Studies in Guatemala, 10 Voices in Bioethics 46 (2024).

DOI

10.52214/vib.v10i.12795

Volume

10

First Page

46

Last Page

52

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