Page 4 - Assignment Team News Today

WASHINGTON -- EDITORS NOTE -- On July 25, 1972, Jean Heller, a reporter on The Associated Press investigative team, then called the Special Assignment Team, broke news that rocked the nation. Based on documents leaked by Peter Buxtun, a whistleblower at the U.S. Public Health Service, the then 29-year-old journalist and the only woman on the team, reported that the federal government let hundreds of Black men in rural Alabama go untreated for syphilis for 40 years in order to study the impact of...

SOUTHPORT, N.C. (AP) — Jean Heller was toiling away on the floor of the Miami Beach...

How an AP reporter broke the Tuskegee syphilis story | 2022-07-25 13:47:31

AP exposes the Tuskegee Syphilis Study: The 50th Anniversary | 2022-07-25 13:48:53

The men were denied access to a cure, even when one became widely available. The study came to an end nearly four months after a July 25, 1972, AP report by reporter Jean Heller. In observance of the 50th anniversary of Heller’s groundbreaking investigation, the AP is republishing the original report.

WASHINGTON (AP) — EDITOR’S NOTE — On July 25, 1972, Jean Heller, a reporter on The Associated Press investigative team, then called the Special Assignment Team, broke news that rocked the nation. Based on documents leaked by Peter Buxtun, a whistleblower at the U.S. Public Health Service, the then 29-year-old journalist and the only woman on the team, reported that the federal government let hundreds of Black men in rural Alabama go untreated for syphilis for 40 years in order to study the...

For 40 years starting in 1932, medical workers in the segregated South withheld treatment for Black men who were unaware they had syphilis, so doctors could track the ravages of

How long did the Tuskegee study last, and what was its impact? It still fuels mistrust of the government and medical system among Black Americans.

The story ran on July 25, 1972, a Tuesday. It was a harrowing tale.

The story ran on July 25, 1972, a Tuesday. It was a harrowing tale.