Essay On Henrietta Lacks

The question of ethics has been an ongoing issue. Two things that are very important in medical ethics is morality and religion because this gives the rights to the physician, or doctor and also the relationship between the patient. In the article, The Code of Medical Ethics, a physician/doctor must recognize the responsibility to their patients, as well to society, to other health professionals, and to themselves (Riddick).

Most people do not know who Henrietta Lacks is, or know how important her cells are. Unlike most cells, Henrietta’s seemed to be immortal; her cells never died. They lived and grew continuously in culture (Skloot 40-41). Henrietta’s cells, known as HeLa cells, were taken without her consent when she was being treated for

In “A Readers Guide”, Skloot ask two questions, “Should people have a right to control what’s done with their tissues once they’re removed from their bodies? And who, if anyone, should profit from those tissues? (Skloot 5). Luckily The Oath of Hippocrates got introduced. “The Oath of Hippocrates, a brief exposition of principles for physicians' conduct, dates from the fifth century BCE. Its statements protect the rights of the patient and oblige the physician voluntarily to behave in an altruistic manner towards patients” (Riddick). US National Library of Medicine cites evidence from a study conducted by E.D Pellegrino that in 1803, Thomas Percival published a Code of Medical Ethics that showed the ideal behavior of doctor in hospitals (qtd. in US National Library of Medicine).

The second book and author I read about is William Carlos Williams who practiced medicine. In the article, “William Carlos Williams: Physician-Writer and Godfather”, Williams was a dedicated student of medicine, who regarded both art and medicine as “two parts of a whole,” (Carter 1512). William Carlos Williams was a doctor for more than forty years in Rutherford, New Jersey who relied on his patients; the doctor-patient relationship inspired his writing. Out of the poems and stories that Williams has written, one of the better known stories is “The Use of