Henrietta Lacks Informed Consent Essay

Informed Consent “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” details the injustice and hardships that an African American woman endured when skin color determined the value of a person/during a time dominated by racial segregation/when racial segregation was the law of the land. Born in Roanoke, Virginia, on August 1, 1920, Henrietta Lacks was forced to follow to racial segregation laws that prohibited Blacks from interacting with Whites in such public places as bathrooms, seating areas, colleges, and hospitals. Like all African Americans, she was treated as an inferior member of society due to her skin color. At the age of thirty, Mrs. Lacks had developed cervical cancer and went to Johns Hopkins Hospital, which only treated Blacks at the time.

What they often forget is that their patients may not have the same level of education as they do and that they may not be able to comprehend the information. Low health literacy can hinder the patient's decision making when it comes to understanding their health status and recognizing the health risks associated with medical procedures. Most medical facilities expect patients to understand the risks and benefits that happen to their health when they want treatments/experiments to be performed on them. Before they receive treatments from doctors, the patient is first given an informed consent. It is standard procedure for the patients to sign an informed consent while being supervised by a medical employee. Also, all the information on the document must be explained at the patient’s discretion. If the patient does not fully understand the information provided with the risks and benefits they will not receive proper treatment and health

If the patient were to die during surgery or procedures, the physicians would not be held accountable if the patient signs the consent form stating they were aware of the risks to their care. It’s important for the patient to ask any questions if they are confused on any information that was given to them. Even though, if the patient is diagnosed with a life-threatening disease or infection they have the right to refuse from signing the consent form. Since the patient is legally competent to make their own decisions that regard their health, they can still disregard any treatments that are being done to them. In most cases, doctors that perform experiments on the patient without their knowledge and without their consent is known as unethical human experiment. Around the 1900s, doctors’ experimentation on their patients that involved their consent had raised little concern. Between 1920 and 1930, Syphilis was a crucial health problem. Healthcare was offered to people who earned low incomes in the South. African Americans were normally low-income citizens in the South and they were not perceived equal to whites. They were prone to have more health problems. There was a group launch called the Julius Rosenwald Fund that originally promoted proper health care for blacks. Yet, after the Great Depression, the organization was reformed.