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Exposé on the Tuskegee Study is published, followed by a class action suit from survivors.

1972

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In July 1972, an Associated Press story about the Tuskegee Study, which was a 40-year federal experiment in which Black men and women with syphilis were knowingly withheld treatment so that researchers could observe the effects of the disease, will cause a public outcry that leads the Assistant Secretary for Health and Scientific Affairs to appoint an Ad Hoc Advisory Panel to review the study.

The panel advises ending the study, and a class action lawsuit is filed by the survivors. In 1974, a $10 million out-of-court settlement will be reached, and the U.S. government will promise to give lifetime medical benefits and burial services to all living survivors of the study.