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 follows Henrietta’s daughter, Deborah, who is searching for information on her mother and her stolen cells. The Lacks family has been kept quiet for decades and when Skloot shows up, they don’t want anything to do with her. Once they realize what they can find with the help of Skloot, they decide to finally ask for help. Rebecca Skloot is along with Deborah for the ride, searching for answers on what has happened to her mother’s “immortal” cells. Deborah and her family have no idea what happened to the cells of her mother and they are on a mission to find out what has happened. In this novel, professionals in the medical field often abuse their power through prejudices and exploitations on race, medical illiteracy, and economic class among patients. Before medical ethics became a widely known and discussed topic, medical professionals often got away with exploiting people of color. …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 lawyer.” The lack of literacy and education in science made it hard for the Lacks family to understand how their mother had produced an “immortal” cell line. Most of the Lack’s family were not schooled properly, dropping out at early ages. “For Henrietta, walking into Hopkins was like entering a foreign country where she didn’t speak the language… she’d never heard the words cervix or biopsy. She didn’t read or write much, and she hadn’t studied science in school” Doctors knew that
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 follows Henrietta’s daughter, Deborah, who is searching for information on her mother and her stolen cells. The Lacks family has been kept quiet for decades and when Skloot shows up, they don’t want anything to do with her. Once they realize what they can find with the help of Skloot, they decide to finally ask for help. Rebecca Skloot is along with Deborah for the ride, searching for answers on what has happened to her mother’s “immortal” cells. Deborah and her family have no idea what happened to the cells of her mother and they are on a mission to find out what has happened. In this novel, professionals in the medical field often abuse their power through prejudices and exploitations on race, medical illiteracy, and economic class among patients. Before medical ethics became a widely known and discussed topic, medical professionals often got away with exploiting people of color. …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 lawyer.” The lack of literacy and education in science made it hard for the Lacks family to understand how their mother had produced an “immortal” cell line. Most of the Lack’s family were not schooled properly, dropping out at early ages. “For Henrietta, walking into Hopkins was like entering a foreign country where she didn’t speak the language… she’d never heard the words cervix or biopsy. She didn’t read or write much, and she hadn’t studied science in school” Doctors knew that