Analysis Of Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks

In Rebecca Skloot’s book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, the author reveals a real-life story about the life of Henrietta Lacks. Henrietta Lacks was an African American woman who was diagnosed with a fast-growing cervical cancer at a very young age. The cells retrieved from her cervical tumor, later termed “HeLa”, became the first immortal cell that could survive in the lab and replicate continuously without dying. These cells later became key components to the development of many groundbreaking inventions such as the polio vaccine and in vitro fertilization. The purpose of this paper is to examine the social covenant of nursing in relation to the ethical dilemmas. The social contract of nursing is important because it reflects the nursing's …show more content…
In chapter 17 of the book, Chester Southam, a well-respected cancer researcher and chief of virology, violated patients’ basic human rights by injecting cancer cells into them without their consent. “He repeated this process with about a dozen other cancer patients. He told them he was testing their immune systems; he said nothing about injecting them with someone else’s malignant cells” (P128). The social contract was not met based on Chester Southam’s actions because it violated many patients’ rights. The patients were tricked into believing that there is still hope in recovery by believing in Chester Southam and allowing him to proceed with his actions. He took advantage of desperate patients who are seeking for a sliver of a chance to survive, lied to them, and injected them with “HeLa” cells that eventually lead to cancer cell metastasized in one of the …show more content…
There are several actions that nurses could take to fulfill the social contract of nursing and to prevent similar disparities from occurring today. The first action would be to advocate for the patient and make sure the patient understands what the consent is even after he or she signed it. If there are any concerns, the nurse will request for the doctor to answer any questions before beginning the procedure. Second action nurses could take would be for them to always tell the truth to their patients and not withhold any known information. Patients have rights to know every detail that is happening with their bodies and what is being done. The third action that nurses could take would be to make sure they are culturally competent in order to be able to create a care plan that suits the patient’s individualized needs. Lastly, nurses could provide better patient care if they perform detailed head to toe assessments to better address the patients’