Henrietta Lacks Informed Consent

Informed consent is the process by which the treating health care provider discloses appropriate information to a competent patient so that the patient may make a voluntary choice to accept or refuse treatment. (Appelbaum, 2007)1 It originates from the legal and ethical right the patient has to direct what happens to her body and from the ethical duty of the physician to involve the patient in her health care. In order for the consent to be valid, the patient must be competent to take the particular decision; have received sufficient information to make a decision; and not be acting under stress.2,3 This may be an issue if consent is obtained upon the day of surgery. Most patients will have firmly decided to proceed for surgery. However,

This essay uses the book“ The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot to investigate the requirements of informed consent ,by informing the patients through every steps Henrietta’s story is an example on informed consent. On one hand theorists such as, Dale Keigner argue that informed consent should be notified by the doctor to the patient and the patient should be knowledge on the proceeding that the doctors will maintain. On the other hand , Lewis Soloman contends that the doctors should be able to take any specimens from the patient after operating without consent for scientific reasons and research. . He also asserted that doctors should be able to deduct any specimen that will be able to help in the science research. Others maintain

Is 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.

Based on our past history (e.g., the Tuskegee experiment) it is now crucial to apply confidentiality and informed consent in studies, especially human subjects. Therefore, harm can reduced as much as possible. I feel the past history is a lesson that social scientists should avoid in studies. All human subjects are required to understand the risk factors and procedures in a study they are participating in. If they require confidentiality, researchers should also agree.

The primary ethical issue is that doctors took Henrietta Lacks’ cells without permission. Doctor Gey forgot the patient and focused his attention on the research.  Doctor Gey’s self- interest and quest for recognition allowed him to cross ethical boundaries.   He took advantage of Henrietta Lacks when she was sick, vulnerable and in need of medical attention therefore, one must question his moral judgment.

CS 4001 Reading Quiz 1 1. Logos means the message itself or the clarity of the argument. Ethos means the writer or speaker of the message and how his or her personality affects the expression of the message. Pathos means the audiences of the message and what their assumptions or beliefs are. Paying attention to pathos will enable the writer to set up sounding arguments.

Can an image tell us everything we want to know about what happened? Why or why not? An image can not tell us everything we want to know about what happened. The images can be changed or altered by a editor during and after a person is having an interview for example or even a picture with photoshop.

Nurse Advocacy Student nurses and nurses spend majority of their time dedicating themselves to patient safety and quality of care. They do patient education, administer medications, perform head to toe assessments, but most importantly, they possess effective communication skills by listening to their patients. This is important because it allows the nurse to understand the concerns of their patients and advocate for their rights. According to the American Nurses Association (ANA), advocacy is when one uses his or her position to protect, support, or speak out for the rights and interests of another.” (Sanford, 2012).

However, it is also very important that one must not imagine that a patient lacks the capacity to make a decision exclusively because of their medical condition, behavior, beliefs, apparent inability to communicate, age, appearance, disability, or the fact that they make a choice that one opposes with. The validity of consent is in two forms, voluntary and informed. Voluntary, the choice to either consent or not to consent to treatment have to be made by the individual themselves, and must not be subjective by force from medical staff, friends or family. Relating to the use of capacity and the morality, the Mental Capacity Act (2005) is also relevant to people aged 16 years and older, and states that no judgement should be presumed unless it is established that he or she does not have a capacity. Capacity is treatment specific and can fluctuate.

literature review Informed consent is an ethical and legal obligation for the physicians to communicate to the patient and results in the patient’s agreement to undergo a medical procedure. It is taken as a safety tool for both patient and the surgical team and Informed consent originated from legal and ethical principles(10); this is done by improving patients’ knowledge and perception about informed consent process that enables the patient to decide on their surgical procedure freely and intentionally without enforcement .in Ethiopia according to guidelines developed in Addis Ababa in April, 2016 of Medical Ethics for doctors in Ethiopia under article 26 states that “It is the duty of the doctor to inform the patient about the treatment

In the health care field, the concept of informed consent allows patients to make their own decisions regarding their health care. A patient and physician have a discussion about the details of a medical process. They must discuss risks, alternatives and outcome of treatment. If a patient agrees to the terms of treatment then they are allowing or giving consent to the physician. Patient education and communication are vital during this process.