Henrietta Lacks Informed Consent Essay
Is it acceptable for health care providers to remove cells from your body and use them for medical research without your knowledge? The concept of informed consent recognizes that everyone has the right to make decisions about their body and health. This right has not always been respected in the past, as seen by the tragedy of Henrietta Lacks. She was an African American woman whose cancer cells were extracted without her knowledge, or consent, for medical experiments. The case of Henrietta Lacks and her immortal cells raises serious ethical concerns about the use of patient samples for medical research without their informed permission. The most important lesson for healthcare practitioners is that informed consent is an essential component …show more content…
Deborah, Henrietta's daughter, expresses her displeasure that her mother's cells were stolen without her agreement, saying, "I'm proud of my mother's cells, but I can't say I'm proud of the way they did it." (53) This quote emphasizes the importance of people having control over their bodies and healthcare decisions. Patients may feel disempowered and disconnected from the decision-making process if they are not educated about their diagnosis, treatment choices, and potential risks and benefits. This might create anger and mistrust in the eyes of healthcare practitioners. Henrietta Lacks' family felt mistreated and deceived since Henrietta’s cells were stolen without her knowledge or consent. As a result of not being engaged in the research process and receiving no advantages from the use of Henrietta's cells, they developed a mistrust of medical …show more content…
Skloot writes about the ethical implications of using Henrietta cells without her consent. She says “Scientists were routinely taking cells from patients without their knowledge much less their consent” (38). This quote illustrates how healthcare providers in the past have violated patients' rights. Furthermore, the story of Henrietta Lacks and her immortal cells has had a significant impact on the medical field. Her cells have been used in countless scientific breakthroughs and have contributed to the development of various medical treatments. However, the lack of informed consent has raised ethical concerns and led to the establishment of guidelines for obtaining consent in medical research. Today health care providers have a responsibility to obtain informed consent from patients before conducting any medical
Henrietta Lacks: Sued To Share Profits From His Cells
1147 Words | 5 PagesHenrietta Lacks John Moore was a leukemia patient that died at the age of 56 years old. He had his spleen removed because with the infection the doctor was worried that it was going to explode. Once his spleen was removed the tissue was then used in research by Dr. David Golde a researcher for UCLA (John Moors, 56; Sued to Share Profits from His Cells). John was never told about the research being done on his tissues, he was just asked by Dr. Golde to return to the UCLA medical center for follow up checkups, where doctors would take blood every time and still never mentioned anything about research to John.
The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks By Houston Mullican
734 Words | 3 Pages“Participation by individuals capable of giving informed consent as subjects in medical research must be voluntary” (Ethics in Medical Research and Publication 2). This was a clear violation in ethics by taking Henrietta’s cells, but at the time racism was still alive and the doctors were a lot less ethical considering all the ethical violations in the medical field happening at this time. The HeLa cell line developed from her cells was estimated at a whopping 3 billion dollars, and none goes to the family. The family is struggling to afford their own medical care while companies are still profiting off their mother. Even with all this hardship put on the family some good has come out of this malicious act such as when HeLa cells were used to test vaccines for polio saving millions or when telomerase ,an enzyme used to fix DNA, allowed scientists to test anti-cancerous drugs that would have killed normal cells (Popular Science, pars.
The Ethical Story Of Henrietta Lacks And Hela Cells
506 Words | 3 PagesJust about everyone was profiting from HeLa cells except her own family. Throughout the book we can follow the interesting stories of Henrietta’s children and the scientist who worked with HeLa cells. Many ethical questions were raised and we can engage in the argument that the author poses. Is consent from patients’ necessary to proceed with testing on patients who are unaware of the procedures being done on them?
What Is The Case Of Henrietta Lacks Unethical
868 Words | 4 PagesAlthough many are unaware of it, scientific ethics have always been a major issue, especially in the United States. This was especially the case of Henrietta Lacks and her family through the early 1950s to present day. Henrietta Lacks hurried into John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland to find out why there was a lump on her cervix. When doctors diagnosed her with cervical cancer, she filled out a form giving consent to let the doctors perform any surgery they deemed necessary. Soon after Henrietta died in October of 1951, her husband, David (Day) Lacks, signed a consent form to let them perform an autopsy on her corpse.
The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Summary
1500 Words | 6 PagesSonali Sagar Block: 2B May 12th 2015 The Degradation of Morals and Ethics In the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks the author Rebecca Skloot tells us about a non-fiction story of an African American women who is diagnosed with cervical cancer and how the medical community exploited her for use of her “immortal” cells. From then onwards the cells have been used for widespread medical advancement and research. There is no denying the good that has come from this as even the polio vaccine was developed from these HeLa cells. Moreover, it has also been aiding with finding a cure for cancer as well as assisting with further research on AIDS.
Henrietta Lacks Speech
249 Words | 1 PagesBefore I start my discussion, I would like to thank Henrietta Lacks for her cells even though they were taken without her consent and also thank the Lacks’ family for their patience in dealing with this issue of not being told about the use of the Henrietta’s cells. Neither Henrietta nor her family got recognition for them. This story tells us how far we have come in this day and age in terms of privacy information and what people can and cannot do because of HIPPA. It was common practice to use people’s information and cells without their consent.
Impact Of Henrietta Lacks On Medical Research Then And Now
1291 Words | 6 PagesHenrietta Lacks’ Impact on Medical Research Then and Now What happens to the sample just taken out of your body that is now being sent to pathology? Is it just tested for one disease and tossed away in biomedical waste, or is it tested and taken somewhere else to be studied for further research? Do we get a say in how we want our tissues used? Henrietta Lacks is just one answer to these questions on why we now have stricter consent forms for various medical procedures.
The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks By Rebecca Skloot
567 Words | 3 PagesThe novel delves into the ethical implications of using human tissue for scientific research and raises questions about informed consent and ownership of biological
Henrietta Lacks
477 Words | 2 PagesIn August of 2013, Talha Khan Burki wrote “Righting a Long-standing Wrong for Henrietta Lacks” for Lancet Oncology. Burki’s purpose was to highlight the problem with the sequence data of patients’ cells (namely, Henrietta Lacks) being publicly released and to inform people of the privacy risks involved. Burki did a very good job at explaining what the issue was, what had been done about it and what needed to happen. Generally, readers struggle and become overwhelmed when they see a large sum of information all at one time. However, while this article provides the reader with several facts, it makes the reader think and Burki did a very well at writing in a manner that prior knowledge of certain terms or concepts are not critical to comprehending.
Tissue In The 1950s To The 21st Century
381 Words | 2 PagesWhen Henrietta’s case is revealed to people, their first response is usually: “Wasn’t it illegal for doctors to take Henrietta’s cells without her knowledge and consent? Don’t doctors have to tell you when they use your cells in research?” Well...no. At least, not in the 1950s to the early 21st century. People are often confused on how they should feel about this situation, which is understandable.
Rebecca Skloot Cell Ethics Essay
1856 Words | 8 PagesThough there have since become guidelines, for much of the first half century of cell research all projects were riddled with a lack of ethical treatment of the patients and the exploitation of them and their cells. Despite the gripes of the patients, especially those whom are mentioned by Skloot, they are largely ignored in favor of the money making giant that is the cell growing
The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Laks By Rebecca Skloot
724 Words | 3 Pages“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot is about an African American woman who had her cells taken without any consent from her or her family to benefit the medical and science field. The Lacks family had no idea about Henrietta’s cells were alive and tested on for all kind of experiments. Henrietta’s case and other similar cases brought up an issue of who has the ownership of the tissue: the patient or the researcher? This issue became serious when researchers and scientists started making profits and having it patented. The argument against giving people legal ownership of their tissues is that everyone benefits from the research.
Hippocrates 'Informed Consent And Truth'
356 Words | 2 PagesB. Informed Consent and Truth-Telling Hippocrates advocated “concealing most things from the patient while you are attending to him…revealing nothing of the patient’s future or present condition.” This attitude would undoubtedly be troublesome today. Competent adult patients have a moral and legal right not to be subjected to medical interventions without their informed and voluntary consent, but to seeking appropriate treatment for their autonomy also. Lying or withholding information from patients can seriously undermine their ability to make informed decisions about life-altering treatments. In order to give their informed consent and exercise their right of self-determination, patients must have access to all relevant information.
Henrietta Lacks's Role In Curring Disease
263 Words | 2 PagesHenrietta Lacks, an African American tobacco farmer from southern Virginia, was diagnosed with cervical cancer at 30 years old. During her treatment at John Hopkins Hospital, one of the doctors took a piece of her tumor without her knowledge or consent and sent it to scientists who had been unsuccessfully attempting to grow tissues in culture for decades. There is no explanation as to why, but her cells never died. To this day they are still alive and have been used throughout the years to great advantages in curing diseases. Henrietta’s cells have played a part in some of the world’s most important medical advances such as the development of the polio vaccine, cloning, vitro fertilization, gene mapping, and they even went up in the first space
Henrietta Lacks Arguments Against Euthanasia
875 Words | 4 PagesThesis Statement: Unethical medical practices are unacceptable procedures that can be used for the benefit of mankind. Issues in unethical procedures in the medical field are common context discussed in debates. The main question among these procedures is its violation in the moral context of such activities. Such procedures do not satisfy laws, principles and theories based on the accepted norms and ideas and influenced by customs, cultures and beliefs that are generalized as good. However, results on some unethical procedures brought beneficial results on mankind such as the development of polio vaccine and discovery of human telomerase which was made possible in the extraction of Henrietta Lacks’ cells without her consent.
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