Man’s InhumanityTowards Man

A Study of Medical Ethics

HeLa cells have been used for…

• Cancer research

• AIDS research

• Creating polio vaccine

• Gene mapping

• Studying the effects of radiation and toxins

• And more

“In 2009, more than 60,000 scientific articles had been published about research done on HeLa, and that number was increasing steadily at a rate of more than 300 papers each month” (313).

Does an individual deserve compensation for his or her contribution to

medical research?

“Since they gone ahead and taken her cells and they been so important for science, Deborah thought, least they could do is give her credit for it” (197).

Henrietta Lacks• No “informed consent”

• No form of compensation

• Granted no permission to release her name or medical records

“Informed consent” is difficult

to define, but Henrietta definitely

was not an informed patient.

“For Henrietta, walking into Hopkins was like entering a foreign country where she didn’t speak the language … She didn’t read or write much, and she hadn’t studied science in school” (16).

“I hereby give consent to the staff of The John Hopkins Hospital to perform any operative procedures and under any anesthetic either local or general that they may deem necessary in the proper surgical care and treatment of: _______. Henrietta printed her name in the blank space” (31).

“A physician violates his duty to his patient and subjects himself to liability if he withholds any facts which are necessary to form the basis of an intelligent consent by the patient to the proposed treatment” (132).

Henrietta Lacks has gotten more of the

recognition she deserves, but not enough monetary

credit.

“I don’t know if they didn’t give us information because they was making money out of it, or if they was just wanting to keep us in the dark about it. I think they made money out of it, cause they were selling her cells all over the world and shipping them for dollars” (168).

“She’s the most important person in the world and her family living in poverty. If our mother so important to science, why can’t we get health insurance?” (168)

No one had permission to release

Henrietta Lacks’ name

or medical records.

“I didn’t sign no papers, he said. I just told them they could do a topsy. Nothin else. Them doctors never said nuthin about keepin her alive in tubes or growin her cells” (164).

“Regardless, it was not standard practice for a doctor to hand a patient’s records over to a reporter … But like the Nuremberg Code and the American Medical Association Code of Ethics … the Hippocratic Oath wasn’t law” (211).

“Regardless, the Lackses aren’t interested in stopping all HeLa research … I just hope Hopkins and some of the other folks who benefited off her cells will do something to honor her and make right with the family” (328).

“She liked takin care of people, so it make sense what she did with them cells” (159).

Works CitedDesign Informer. The Bare Bones That Every Freelance Contract Should

Have. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 July 2011. <http://designinformer.com/2009/ the-bare-bones-that-every-freelance-contract-should-have/>.

Harris, Morgan. HeLa Cells: A Moral Compass. WordPress, n.d. Web. 28 July 2011. <http://moralcompass.blog.sbc.edu/2010/12/02/morgans-blog/hela-cells-2/>.

Health & Human Services. Private Drinking Water Testing. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 July 2011. <http://www.co.washington.or.us/HHS/EnvironmentalHealth/DrinkingWater/ Private-Water-Testing.cfm>.

Klosek, Jacqueline. Emerging Issues in Informed Consent. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 July 2011. <http://www.genengnews.com/analysis-and-insight/emerging-issues-in-informed-consent/ 77899330/>.

PsdGraphics. Blank open book template. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 July 2011. <http://www.psdgraphics.com/ backgrounds/blank-open-book-template/>.

Skloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Broadway Paperbacks, 2010. Print.

Wikipedia. Henrietta Lacks. N.p., 25 July 2011. Web. 28 July 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Henrietta_Lacks>.