The purpose of this paper is to analyze the significant ethical issue related to informed consent and the structural health disparities as it relates to the life of Henrietta Lacks. Informed consent is based on the ethical principles of patient autonomy, justice and beneficence. Nurses and medical professionals have the obligation to provide patient services without compromising patient’s human rights and the right to self-determination. Henrietta Lacks family were faced with various barriers to accessing quality healthcare at the time including social circumstances as poverty, race, and the lack of education.
Ethical Issue
Henrietta’s story happened at a time when segregation between people of color and white Americans was evident. This …show more content…
Just as Skloot (2010) stated, “when black patients 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” (Skloot, 2010, p. 15). Furthermore, the structural healthcare disparities that Henrietta Lacks demonstrated included the facts that she was a female patient at the time when white men dominated the healthcare field, poverty, lack of education, and being black when whites were given privileges. All these factors have influenced the predatory behaviors of the medical professionals at the time. In fact, Skloot (2010) described that “for Henrietta, walking into Hopkins is like entering a foreign country where she didn’t speak the language” (p. 16) which speaks more about the lack of understanding related to the health services she was …show more content…
Therefore, the scientists, researchers, and other medical professionals felt no responsibility to make it known to the patients that their tissues were being used for research. Furthermore, the Belmont Report was established in an effort to protect human subjects in research and clinical trials. The report emphasizes the importance of respect for persons which entails providing patients with autonomy in making decisions and their right to self-determination (Office for Human Research Protections,
Ethical Issue
Henrietta’s story happened at a time when segregation between people of color and white Americans was evident. This …show more content…
Just as Skloot (2010) stated, “when black patients 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” (Skloot, 2010, p. 15). Furthermore, the structural healthcare disparities that Henrietta Lacks demonstrated included the facts that she was a female patient at the time when white men dominated the healthcare field, poverty, lack of education, and being black when whites were given privileges. All these factors have influenced the predatory behaviors of the medical professionals at the time. In fact, Skloot (2010) described that “for Henrietta, walking into Hopkins is like entering a foreign country where she didn’t speak the language” (p. 16) which speaks more about the lack of understanding related to the health services she was …show more content…
Therefore, the scientists, researchers, and other medical professionals felt no responsibility to make it known to the patients that their tissues were being used for research. Furthermore, the Belmont Report was established in an effort to protect human subjects in research and clinical trials. The report emphasizes the importance of respect for persons which entails providing patients with autonomy in making decisions and their right to self-determination (Office for Human Research Protections,