Medical Ethics and the Abuse of Power
In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, we see how medical professionals can abuse their power when treating patients. Henrietta Lacks was an underprivileged, African American woman with cervical cancer. While visiting her doctors for treatment, cancerous cells were taken from her, harvested, and distributed to labs all over the world without her knowledge. She was treated during the 1950s when racism was at its prime, causing her to be treated at an all-black medical facility where doctors and nurses were not as keen on helping these patients as they would be if patients were white. The Lacks family lives in Baltimore, Maryland in a bad area with a tremendous amount of poverty. The story …show more content…
Henrietta first began treatment in the 1950s when racism was at its prime where only certain hospitals were dedicated to treating African Americans. Henrietta would drive “nearly twenty miles . . . because it was the only major hospital for miles that treated black patients. This was the era of Jim Crow—when black people showed up at white-only hospitals, the staff was likely to send them away, even if it meant they might die in the parking lot.” African Americans were not seen in the same light as white people were during this time. Normally, a doctor would be more concerned with treating a white patient over an African American patient. When a white patient was being treated with something similar to Henrietta’s case, he was told about his cells being taken from him, and had the means to fight it. Because he was white, doctors were keener on treating him and keeping him updated with treatments. “A white man named John Moore was about to begin fighting the same battle. Unlike the Lacks family, he knew who'd done what with his cells, and how much money they'd made. He also had the means to hire a
In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, we see how medical professionals can abuse their power when treating patients. Henrietta Lacks was an underprivileged, African American woman with cervical cancer. While visiting her doctors for treatment, cancerous cells were taken from her, harvested, and distributed to labs all over the world without her knowledge. She was treated during the 1950s when racism was at its prime, causing her to be treated at an all-black medical facility where doctors and nurses were not as keen on helping these patients as they would be if patients were white. The Lacks family lives in Baltimore, Maryland in a bad area with a tremendous amount of poverty. The story …show more content…
Henrietta first began treatment in the 1950s when racism was at its prime where only certain hospitals were dedicated to treating African Americans. Henrietta would drive “nearly twenty miles . . . because it was the only major hospital for miles that treated black patients. This was the era of Jim Crow—when black people showed up at white-only hospitals, the staff was likely to send them away, even if it meant they might die in the parking lot.” African Americans were not seen in the same light as white people were during this time. Normally, a doctor would be more concerned with treating a white patient over an African American patient. When a white patient was being treated with something similar to Henrietta’s case, he was told about his cells being taken from him, and had the means to fight it. Because he was white, doctors were keener on treating him and keeping him updated with treatments. “A white man named John Moore was about to begin fighting the same battle. Unlike the Lacks family, he knew who'd done what with his cells, and how much money they'd made. He also had the means to hire a