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The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Essay

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The book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a very touching book to me. This book has really made me think about how patients were treated back then in hospitals. It also has showed me how this book shows of how things were and have changed because of the Henrietta cells. The only thing is that Henrietta did not know that her cells were going into research labs. Since she did not know that they used her cells in research there was no way for her family to try to make money off it to help them finically. Also, the time period plays a huge factor in why her cells were used without her consent. Therefore, this leads me to say that the finance code of ethics, the selling of other people cells, and how your medical records are worth more …show more content…

This case has brought up how much money these companies are making from selling peoples cells. The case is about a guy named John Moore who has leukemia. He goes to the doctor to get his spleen taken out since that is where the leukemia cell keeps growing (ANNAS, 1990). While in surgery the doctor took his spleen out and took the cells from it. He took the cells so he could make a cell line that came from his spleen (ANNAS, 1990). The only problem is the patient never knew that he was going to take the cells and sell them to make profit. Since the doctor took it without him knowing it and since the patient never got any money from the cells it has caused huge debate on whether or not the cells are still property of the person after they leave your body. The court in this case ruled that the patient gets control over his cells and tissues whether they can use them or not (Skloot, 2010). Then the doctor appealed saying this that when they leave your body and are in the hands of the doctor then they own the right of your cells (ANNAS, 1990). This leads to me say that I feel that the cells are each patient’s property unless them give them to some else with consent. In the article written by ANNAS had a guy named Justice Broussard who backed me up by saying that since the patients don’t have a right to their cells when they leave their body and only people that have rights to them are the drug and medical companies (ANNAS, 1190). This just proves that us patients are losing finically since we do not get a cut of the profit these companies and doctors get from our cells in research. It also breaks the fairness principle in the CFP

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