Henrietta Lacks Ethical Issues
The Case of Henrietta Lacks In January of 1951, a 30 year old African American, married mother of five visited Johns Hopkins Hospital for vaginal bleeding, her name was Henrietta Lacks. At the time, Johns Hopkins was the only hospital in the area that would treat African American patients. During a pelvic examination, Dr. Howard W. Jones performed a biopsy of a mass located on Mrs. Lacks' cervix. Laboratory test results came back positive for terminal cervical cancer and Mrs. Lacks began treatment. During Mrs. Lacks' treatments, multiple samples were taken from her cervix without her knowledge. These samples were given to Dr. George Otto Gey, a physician and cancer researcher at Johns Hopkins. The collection of cells was nothing new to Dr. Gey, in fact he regularly collected cells for research from all …show more content…
Ethical Issues. When it comes to weighing the benefits of using HeLa cells to the ethical issues derived from the procurment of them, it's for me pretty black and white. Yes, her cells have done great things in the last six decades and will no doubt continue to do so for decades to come. However, the blatant disregard for her permission and later, her familys knowledge cannot go ignored. Johns Hopkins has made a valiant effort in trying to make this error in judgement right since the family became aware, but it begs to question, if not for the scientist who contacted the family inquiring about blood samples, would they have ever found out? When it comes to caring for patients, we as nurse code to guide us in ethical decision making, According to the Code of Ethics for Nurses "each patient has the right to make an informed decision regarding their participation in research. As an advocate for the patient, nurses have a responsibility to ensure that patients are presented with information about any research being performed to the extent that an informed decision can made". Henrietta Lacks was not given this right, that is never okay, for any
Rebecca Skloot's The Life Of Henrietta Lacks
248 Words | 1 PagesDr. George Otto Gey Rebecca Skloot writes in The Life of Henrietta Lacks, part two “Death” how she was able to contact the family and describes the medical research on HeLa cells. Rebecca Skloot has a hard time getting a hold of the family since trust is a big issue. To illustrate, since Henrietta Lacks cell are legendary in the medical and science community the Lacks family been bombarded with people trying to get information about Henrietta. Because of this, Rebecca, had to first gain the trust of the family before she will be able to talk to the family. Scientist and doctor used Henrietta’s cells on animals and people to study the effects of the cancer cells and gain new knowledge.
Henrietta Lacks Research Papers
460 Words | 2 PagesWith Henrietta the doctors took a sample from her tumor and started experimenting with it. After all the experiments they did, the cells turn out to be the first cell line that did not died within days. One thing doctors fail to tell Henrietta was
Henrietta Lacks Essay
672 Words | 3 PagesThe Fluidity of Henrietta Lacks. Gender Norms & Racial Bias in the study of the Modern “Henrietta Lacks” Henrietta Lacks was an African American woman whose cancer cells were the source of the HeLa cell line, the first immortalized cell line and one of the most important cell lines in medical research. An immortalized cell line will reproduce indefinitely under specific conditions, and the HeLa cell line continues to be a source of invaluable medical data to present day. Lacks was the unwitting source of these cells from a tumor biopsied during treatment for cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. in 1951. The cells were then cultured by George Otto Gey who created the cell line known as HeLa, which is still
Henrietta Lacks Research Papers
613 Words | 3 PagesPeople did not know the truth about HeLa because Hopkins hospital hid the fact that they took living samples of Henrietta’s cells without consent. “-Add quote-“they did it to continue and advance in their research. From HeLa the scientific world was booming with questions. “–Add quote-“they asked questions such as where was HeLa from and who’s the patient was with the cells. Not to mention Hopkins did not release Henrietta name because they did not want people to find out who she really was.
Was The Unconsented Research On Henrietta Lacks Lawful?
1397 Words | 6 PagesWho make the decisions concerning HeLa cells? Lastly and arguably the most important, How does this affect future medical procedure and discoveries concerning human
Henrietta Lacks Informed Consent
493 Words | 2 PagesI believe that the family members should have a say whether or not they have ownership of the cells. Henrietta Lacks’ consent was taken away from her, and so the next best case is to allow the family members to decide whether or not they give consent to the HeLa cells. Similar to the rule-utilitarian, if we were to disregard this case of informed consent, then what’s not to say we can violate someone else’s informed consent for another justifiable reason? This would lead to a slippery slope that could increase the lack of informed consents for patients. However, I, at the same time, understand that this is a very unique case and the cells are doing much more good than harm.
How Did Henrietta Lacks Use The Ethics Of Medical And Biological Research?
1381 Words | 6 PagesWhat would you do if a doctor took your cells without consent and shortly after, your cells went viral, being sent all over the world to millions of different scientists? Well, I can’t say that Henrietta Lacks lived through this, but I can say that her cells did. Bioethics, the ethics of medical and biological research, has been a controversial issue throughout the U.S. for years. Different laws have been formalized to help tame the fire on the topic of consent and mortality. In the year of 1951, Henrietta Lacks was diagnosed with cervical cancer and had too many tumors to count inside her rotting body.
Was Henrietta Lacks Be Allowed
656 Words | 3 PagesIs it right for one's life to be manipulated for the use of scientific research or is it just a evasion on the person's privacy. Henrietta Lacks was a African American with cells that intrigued many people, she was diagnosed with cancer leaving her to be cared for at her local hospital, where she would later die due to the extremity of the illness. While at the hospital she was unaware that the doctors there were experimenting on her taking cell samples from her body, to help find a resolution to multiple diseases. The people who examined Henrietta manipulated her and the rest of her family to gain information on her cellular structure to be ahead of others looking to achieve the same objective. Henrietta Lacks cells should have never been evaluated because it's an evasion of her freedom, a danger to her personal health, and cause conflicts.
Henrietta Lacks Benefits
1249 Words | 5 PagesDoes saving the human race from extinction matter if you did not get permission to take the materials necessary? When an African American women had her cells stolen without her consent she had no knowledge as to how she was going to benefit the world, let alone the science industry. This woman is Henrietta Lacks. Her cells and her legacy will never be forgotten throughout the world. In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot presents the scientific progression of HeLa cells with study cases, such as the study of viruses and the development of the polio vaccine, in order to prove to the reader that HeLa was beneficial towards science and was not illegal in any ethical way.
Henrietta Lacks Research Papers
828 Words | 4 PagesHer cells have became immortal but Henrietta and her family never gave consent. Even her husband said no after her death! But the cells were taken before her death. If Henrietta Lacks was a white and upper class, the story of her
Argumentative Essay On Henrietta Lacks
239 Words | 1 PagesThe cells that came from Henrietta Lack’s tumor were extremely strange, normal cells go through something called apoptosis, programed cell death, the cells from Lack’s tumor did not go through this process and continued to divided continually. Doctors and lab pathologists
J Robert Oppenheimer Accomplishments
860 Words | 4 PagesCNN Health says that HeLa cells allowed for the creation of the polio vaccine and helped produce the COVID-19 vaccine. It’s helped with cancer treatment and stem-cell studies as well. Although Henrietta Lacks did not make this discovery herself, nor was she around when it transformed medicine, without her cells, medicine would never be where it is today. HeLa cells continue to be used today and continues to help with advancements in medicine and
Henrietta Lacks Thesis
1020 Words | 5 PagesIn 1951, at the age of 31 Henrietta Lacks was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Henrietta was under treatment at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where cells from her malignant tumor were removed. Neither Henrietta nor any of her family members knew about the tissue sample and nor did the Hopkins ever informed them of the situation. Unfortunately after Henrietta’s radiation treatment, her condition continued to worsen and soon she lost her battle to cancer on octomber 4th 1951. Henriettas cells left the Hopkins what they discovered to be known to be the first immortal human cell line.
Henrietta Lacks Discussion Questions
700 Words | 3 Pages30year old Henrietta Lacks underwent radiation treatment for cervical cancer at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore In 1951. During her treatment, George Gey the surgeon who performed the procedure removed pieces of her cervix without her knowledge and sent them to a lab. Her cells were used to develop the polio vaccine, used in the first space missions to see what would happen to human cells in zero gravity. Henrietta’s cells were the first human cells ever cloned, some of the first genes ever mapped. They have been used to create some of our most important cancer
Henrietta Lacks Ethical Analysis
252 Words | 2 PagesI presume that it would be ethically correct to provide a compensation to Henrietta Lacks descendants. I am aware that Henrietta Lacks cells enabled scientist to encounter new discoveries such as the polio vaccine and other. However, the benefits of her cells does not outweigh the fact that Lacks family deserved some sort of compensation. It would be ethically correct because the financial reward could have accommodated the needs of her family. In the article “Family of Henrietta Lacks gains some control” states, “When scientists and doctors crave the key to the genetic code that unlocked treatments and vaccines, two family members will have a seat at the table where the decisions are made” (Curtis).
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