Bad Blood (from "Another Burden to Bear")

For 40 years, the Public Health Service told 600 African-American men in Alabama that they were receiving free healthcare from the federal government. In reality, the PHS, in partnership with the Tuskegee Institute, was researching the natural history of syphilis. The men who had syphilis were never informed of their diagnosis– instead the PHS told them they were being treated for “bad blood,” a colloquial term for syphilis, anemia, and fatigue, as Joanne explains.