The book “the immortal life of Henrietta lacks” is a book that is representative of some of the issues that we face within out communities. The challenges faced by the Lack’s family and the questioning of the scientific field began with the mere act of removing Henrietta’s cancerous cells form her body and cultured without consent. Some of the main themes addressed in the book include morals and ethics within the scientific community, communication between healthcare provider and patients and racism in the health care field.
Despite acquiring Henrietta’s cells without consent, the cels became the “immortal cells” and were used to develop many vaccines and discover cures for many diseases. The fact that the cells were used for a good cause …show more content…
The patients in the book were always either, misinformed, not informed at all or simply given partial information. Patients have a right to know everything that could potentially affect their health. More specifically, when patients are participating in a research study, they have a right to be fully informed about everything pertaining the study. Today, many cancer centers acquire cells from different cancer patients to use for research, usually on a volunteer basis. In these situations, the patients need to be fully informed about what the cells are going to be used for and what would happen if their individual cells lead to a breakthrough. This issue is another ethical challenge seeing as individuals donate the cells voluntarily without receiving any compensation, yet the scientists who carry out the research obtain a significant amount of money once their research is successful.
The articles “A family consents to a medical gift, 62 years later” talks about Henrietta’s family finally being given some control over her cells after 62 years. This is an indication of how long it can take to make things right. The cells have been used for abundant research, but two genome projects to sequence Henrietta’s cells are what triggered the agreement between the NIH and the Lacks family. This illustrates that as much as we have moved forward
Despite acquiring Henrietta’s cells without consent, the cels became the “immortal cells” and were used to develop many vaccines and discover cures for many diseases. The fact that the cells were used for a good cause …show more content…
The patients in the book were always either, misinformed, not informed at all or simply given partial information. Patients have a right to know everything that could potentially affect their health. More specifically, when patients are participating in a research study, they have a right to be fully informed about everything pertaining the study. Today, many cancer centers acquire cells from different cancer patients to use for research, usually on a volunteer basis. In these situations, the patients need to be fully informed about what the cells are going to be used for and what would happen if their individual cells lead to a breakthrough. This issue is another ethical challenge seeing as individuals donate the cells voluntarily without receiving any compensation, yet the scientists who carry out the research obtain a significant amount of money once their research is successful.
The articles “A family consents to a medical gift, 62 years later” talks about Henrietta’s family finally being given some control over her cells after 62 years. This is an indication of how long it can take to make things right. The cells have been used for abundant research, but two genome projects to sequence Henrietta’s cells are what triggered the agreement between the NIH and the Lacks family. This illustrates that as much as we have moved forward