OPELIKA, Ala. -- Ernest Hendon, at 96 the last living survivor of the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study, died on Friday, the lawyer who represented the plaintiffs in a lawsuit said in a statement.
Mr. Hendon was one of 623 men who unwittingly participated in the experiment by the US Public Health Service to examine the effects of untreated syphilis on a group of Macon County black men from 1932 to 1972. The men were not told they had the disease and in 1972 filed a federal suit. The government agreed to provide free medical care and $9 million in payments to the victims and their families.
