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Peter Buxtun

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Peter Buxtun
An undated photo of Buxtun
Born
Peter Jan Buxbaum

(1937-09-29)September 29, 1937
Prague, Czechoslovakia
DiedMay 18, 2024(2024-05-18) (aged 86)
Rocklin, California, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Epidemiologist, social worker
Known forWhistleblowing on the Tuskegee Syphilis Study

Peter Buxtun (sometimes referred to as Peter Buxton; September 29, 1937 – May 18, 2024) was an American epidemiologist.[1] He was an employee of the United States Public Health Service who became known as the whistleblower responsible for ending the Tuskegee Syphilis Study.

Career

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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, seven months after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., pointing out the political volatility of the study; again, his concerns were ruled irrelevant.[4][5]

In 1972, Buxtun leaked information on the Tuskegee experiment to Jean Heller of the Associated Press. It first appeared in the Washington Star. Heller's story exposing the experiment was published on July 25, 1972;[6] It became front-page news in The New York Times the following day. Senator Ted Kennedy called Congressional hearings, at which Buxtun and officials from the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare testified. The experiment was terminated shortly afterwards.[7]. In 1997, President Bill Clinton invited surviving Tuskegee study subjects to the White House, where he offered a formal apology and described the government’s actions over four decades as “shameful” and “clearly racist.”[8]

In May 1999, Buxtun attended the launch of a memorial center and public exhibit to the experiment in Tuskegee, Alabama.[9] On November 4, 2019, Buxtun was inducted as an honorary member of Delta Omega, the honorary society in public health.[10]

Personal life

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Buxtun was born in 1937 in Prague.[11] He was of Jewish and Czech descent.[12]. With the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazism, Buxbaum and family moved to the United States in 1938. They settled on a farm in Oregon's Willamette Valley.[8]

Peter graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in European history and served as a medic in the U.S. Army.[8]

Buxtun died from Alzheimer's disease in Rocklin, California, on May 18, 2024, at the age of 86.[13][14]

References

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  1. ^ Gabriel, Trip (July 18, 2024). "Peter Buxtun, Who Exposed Tuskegee Syphilis Study, Dies at 86". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 22, 2024.
  2. ^ a b Heller, Jean (July 20, 1997). "The legacy of Tuskegee". St. Petersburg Times. p. 1D.
  3. ^ Rubin, Allen; Babbie, Earl R. (2005). Research Methods for Social Work. Thomson Wadsworth. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-534-62109-4.
  4. ^ Elliott, Carl (December 4, 2017). "Tuskegee Truth Teller". The American Scholar. Archived from the original on April 25, 2020. Retrieved February 27, 2020.
  5. ^ Thomas, Stephen B.; Quinn, Sandra Crouse (November 1991). "The Tuskegee Syphilis Study, 1932 to 1972: Implications for HIV Education and AIDS Risk Education Programs in the Black Community" (PDF). American Journal of Public Health. 81 (11). American Public Health Association: 1498–1505. doi:10.2105/AJPH.81.11.1498. ISSN 1541-0048. PMC 1405662. PMID 1951814. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 1, 2007. Retrieved March 6, 2008.
  6. ^ https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/2024/07/15/buxtun-tuskegee-syphilis-whistleblower-black-men/2b967152-42fb-11ef-83d0-9eaefdc988e8_story.html. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. ^ Stryker, Jeff (April 13, 1997). "Tuskegee's long arm still touches a nerve". The New York Times. p. 4.
  8. ^ a b c Gabriel, Trip (July 18, 2024). "Peter Buxtun, Who Exposed Tuskegee Syphilis Study, Dies at 86". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 1, 2024.
  9. ^ "Center launched as training tool". Associated Press. May 17, 1999.
  10. ^ "Honorary Members". DeltaOmega.org. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
  11. ^ Granberg, Donald; Galliher, John F. (2010). A Most Human Enterprise: Controversies in the Social Sciences. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. p. 3.
  12. ^ Bush, Lawrence (July 28, 2015). "July 29: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment". Jewish Currents. Retrieved November 7, 2018.
  13. ^ "Tuskegee syphilis study whistleblower dies at age 86". PBS News. Associated Press. July 15, 2024. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  14. ^ "Whistleblower helped end the Tuskegee syphilis study". Washington Post. July 16, 2024. Retrieved July 18, 2024.

Further reading

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