Thanks To Anon., A Life Well-Lived: Peter Buxtun -- Passes At 86. Exposed The Forced Tuskegee Syphilis Studies...

I think I might rightly suppose Mr. Buxtun would say there were no heroes in this story -- excepting the black men who endured. . . what was plainly even then a treatable disease -- made far worse, for over a half-century -- by shockingly unethical medical decision making. Official policy, in fact.

But he is certainly the main reason it all. . . ended. Travel well, and do travel light, sir. Here's the story, courtesy of our erstwhile Anon. (and the Wa Po):

. . .Peter Buxtun, a whistleblower who exposed and helped end the Tuskegee syphilis study, a four-decade experiment in which the U.S. Public Health Service used hundreds of Black men as human guinea pigs, died May 18 at a memory-care center in Rocklin, Calif. He was 86.

The cause was complications from Alzheimer’s disease, said his friend John Seidts, who helped look after Mr. Buxtun in recent years. His death, near Sacramento, was first reported Monday by the Associated Press, which in 1972 published the first news story prompted by Mr. Buxtun’s disclosures.

A former venereal disease investigator with the Public Health Service, Mr. Buxtun spent seven years trying to draw attention to the Tuskegee study, meeting with journalists, doctors, public health officials and anyone who would listen.

His efforts, and the reporting that he inspired, brought widespread attention to one of the country’s most notorious medical scandals, revealing how 399 Black men in the segregated South were exploited for a study in which their syphilis would be monitored but not treated. . . .

Onward. . . we will see brighter days. And do recover fully, and get well soon, Mr. President. We need your wisdom.

नमस्ते