Lance Langel
11/18/14
P.8
Bibliography
Fahy, D., & Nisbet, M. C. (2013). Bioethics in popular sciance: evaluating the medica impact of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks in the biobank debate .Retrievedfrombiomedcentralhttp://www.biomedcentral.com/1472- 6939/14/1
Due to biobanks, there has been many bioethical concerns regarding, disclosure, ownership, privacy, control, and consent. As an opportunity to engage an audience about these ethical issues, bioethicists have used Rebecca Skloot's book "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" (Fahy & Nisbet, 2013). To engage the audience, researchers conducted an analysis of relevant articles and transcripts produced by organizations and publications in the U.S. and in other countries (Fahy & Nisbet,
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Henrietta grew up in Virginia on a tobacco farm and was raised by her grandfather. When she was 30 years old she noticed a large knot in her lower stomach, and later found out it was cervical cancer. While staying a John Hopkins, doctors took pieces Henrietta's tissue from her cancerous tumor. Though they took the tissue, Henrietta nor her family gave permission for her cells to be taken (Miller, 2010). Dr. George Gey head of tissue-culture at John Hopkins could now grow a cell line that could help find a cure to cancer, because of Herietta's cells in her tissue. When he finally started growing the cells, he immediately started distributing them to other doctors and researchers. This article is much like the other articles I've annotated because it deals with the ethical issues of informed consent, and talks about Henrietta Lacks. If I was in Henrietta’s place and I was still alive I would sue John Hopkins and George Gey for stealing cells out of my body without my …show more content…
These cells were obtained in 1951 at John Hopkins University during a biopsy performed during her treatment for cervical cancer (Troug, Kesselheim, & Joffe, 2012). Also, this article describes the property rights of human tissue. There are many cases much like Henrietta's when it comes to right of human tissue. An, example of this is John Moore v. Regents of the University of California Troug, Kesselheim, & Joffe, 2012). In regards to the ownership of tissue, this article also, describes the investigator's obligations to individuals from who they seek for research (Troug, Kesselheim, & Joffe, 2012). These obligations include; consent, compensation for effort and burden, and rights to revenue stream (Troug, Kesselheim, & Joffe, 2012). This article is very similar to those I have read because it refers to informed consent, but in this article it goes more in debt into what informed consent actually means, and the actions that go with it. Informed consent is a very big deal to me, because I would want doctors to tell me what treatments they are planning, and if I was going to be part in a research
Gey took a tissue sample from her, and scientists who were making discoveries obviously benefitted financially from Henrietta's cells since they were making profit from their creations. So the Lacks family was enraged when they found out that people were profiting from their mother's cells that Dr. Gey stole. They felt that since Henrietta was their mother, they owned the HeLa cells and the hospital did not have the right to experiment on the cells without their consent. They thought that they should at least get compensation for the scientific discoveries. That brings up the question of who owns the cells and whether or not the family should be making any
Having the opportunity to discuss the impact of medical research performed on Henrietta Lacks’ cells with doctor George Guy would be an experience like no other. Through the use of Henrietta Lacks’s cells, George Guy created an industry that would fuel research throughout the scientific community. When Henrietta Lacks was admitted to the hospital for radiation treatments, doctors took samples of her cervical cancer cells. Henrietta was not informed that one of the two samples was sent to George Guy, a scientist researching the immortalization of human cells. Guy soon realized that these cells were able to grow outside of the human body, they even grew rapidly.
TIC673 HeLa Assignment 2018 In one of the best seller novel, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” the author Rebecca Skloot describes about the first human immortal cells that lived in laboratory culture and about the story of black, 31-year-old woman from whom these cells were obtained. The cells which not only proved to be most important in the field of medicine but also brought medical revolution were obtained from her without her or her family’s knowledge leading to the most debatable ethical issues. The following essay would describe the cell’s contribution to science, how they were obtained and some of the ethical issues violated. Henrietta’s cells did much good for the society.
Maybe figure out how to duplicate the cells and use it for other drugs that can help people heal better. All through this research and testing Henrietta was left in the dark she didn’t even know that the doctors removed a piece of her cervix for research purposes. She didn’t even receive credit for her cells until much much later. No one knew about the HeLa cells except for the doctors because they were trying to keep it a secret so their project wouldn’t get shutdown by not informing the patient that they’re using their cells. Some would say that the doctors did the right thing and kept the identity of the cells disclosed because later on it led to saving so many lives.
When a researcher from the National Cancer Institute was visiting a friend, Bobbette, who was the wife of one of Henrietta’s oldest son’s. He asked her last name and excitedly asked her if she was related to Henrietta Lacks. He told her about Henrietta Lacks, and Bobbette ran to tell the family that Henrietta was still alive. The researcher or anyone else in the medical field was not supposed to tell or ask anyone including relatives about Henrietta’s medical records.
From then on, she began seeing a doctor in John Hopkins hospital for check-ups and treatments for cervical cancer. During one of her treatments, a doctor took a sample of her “knot” and passed it on to another doctor in the building to test it. This doctor was named George Gey, and he was trying to make the first immortal human cell line. However, every time he tried, it just did not seem to work. When Gey’s assistants began to grow Henrietta 's cells, they expected them to just die.
At that time there were no laws in effect to protect people from doctors, so this was not illegal, most do argue that it was morally. The samples were given to Dr. George Otto Gey, who later saw an unusual quality in the cells. Most cell only survived a few days, Henrietta’s cells were sturdier then the average cell. Gey isolated and multiplied a specific cell, creating a new cell line. He named the cell strain HeLa from her first two letters from her first and last name.
Through her cells we see the impact it created in medical research and understand ethical issues that arose from this experience. I, as many others in the world, strive for an answer on how to stop cancer from occurring and curing it once and for all. 1951 in Baltimore, Henrietta Lacks was a beautiful 30-year-old mother of five children who went to the gynecologist because of spotting between monthly cycles. On examination a lesion was found on her cervix that was biopsied for pathology and found to be epidermoid carcinoma of the cervix, Stage I cancer. This was an interesting case because when Henrietta’s cancer cells were tested they weren’t like other cancer cells; they were aggressive and grew very rapidly.
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.
In 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.
The 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
In 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.
What are the specific issues raised in the book—legally and ethically? Think about the 1980s John Moore case: the appeal court decision and its reversal by the California Supreme Court. Issues that raised in the book are race issues, the legality of taking adventage of patients who’s family aren’t able to fight for the rights and benefit of their cells. According to California supreme court, Under the duty to obtain informed consent, “a doctor must disclose his intent in using a patient for research and economic gain.” 6.
Racism in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Imagine your mother, sister, wife, or cousin was diagnosed with cervical cancer and you believed the doctors were doing everything in their power to help her. Only later you discovered her cells were used for research without consent and she was not properly informed of the risks of her treatment due to her race. This story happened and is told by Rebecca Skloot in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Skloot use of narrative and her writing style enhances the understanding of the story. Henrietta Lacks was a young black woman who was diagnosed with cervical cancer at John Hopkins Hospital.
The origination of HeLa cells, used in biomedical research for a potential cure for cancer, had made many ground breaking discoveries in science; all thanks to one woman, Mrs. Henrietta Lacks. The history of Mrs. Lacks’s contribution to these studies raised many ethical issues concerning healthcare practice. In the short film, The Way of All Flesh, we learn how these cells were revealed by direct violation of ethical principles. During the 1950s, matters regarding informed consent practices were in their beginning stages of implementation.