Peter Buxtun
Peter Buxtun (sometimes referred to as Peter Buxton; born 1937 in Prague[1]) is a former employee of the United States Public Health Service who became known as the whistleblower responsible for ending the Tuskegee syphilis experiment.
Buxtun, then a 27-year-old social worker and epidemiologist in San Francisco,[2] was hired by the Public Health Service in December 1965[3] to interview patients with sexually transmitted diseases; in the course of his duties, he learned of the Tuskegee Experiment from co-workers. He later said—"I didn't want to believe it. This was the Public Health Service. We didn't do things like that."[2] In November 1966, he filed an official protest on ethical grounds with the Service's Division of Venereal Diseases; this was rejected on the grounds that the Experiment was not yet complete. He filed another protest in November 1968; again, his concerns were ruled irrelevant.[4]
In 1972, Buxtun leaked information on the Tuskegee Experiment to Jean Heller of the Washington Star. Heller's story exposing the Experiment was published on July 25, 1972; It became front-page news in the New York Times the following day. Senator Edward Kennedy called Congressional hearings, at which Buxtun and HEW officials testified and the Experiment was terminated shortly thereafter.[5] Buxtun subsequently testified at the ensuing Congressional hearing.
In May 1999, Buxtun attended the launch of a memorial center and public exhibit to the experiment in Tuskegee.[6]
Further reading
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References
- ↑ Donald Granberg, John F. Galliher: A most human enterprise: controversies in the social sciences. Lexington Books, Lanham 2010, p. 3.
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