In "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks", Rebecca Skloot provides an informational insider on the life of Henrietta Lacks- pointing out the ethical issues in Henrietta's operative. Henrietta, a woman who unknowingly had her tissue cells removed from her cervix by scientists were being used in wide-spread research. After reading "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks", I started researching and came upon an article titled "Patient Safety: The Ethical Imperative". I began making connections that demonstrated and explained the problems that were present in the novel and in the article; however, many people want to argue that what is believed to be "unethical" isn't actually wrong.
Throughout the novel, a variety of ethical issues are present in Henrietta's case such as doctors asking permission to take tissue, taking blood (misunderstanding for cancer tests), not specifying her treatments (her doctors put in her records that she had been told as a mistake) and many others. In her operative, there was no provided consent from any of the doctors asking permission to culture her cells; "Though no law or code of ethics required doctors to ask permission before taking tissue from a living patient." Consent comes a long way especially when the family is living in poverty and other "manufacturers" are making money off of their own wife and mother. Her family wondered if what they did with her was correct though, they didn't bear think about it for it only brought them fear. In fact, Day believed that they were ONLY doing an autopsy; what they didn't know that millions of Henrietta's cells were growing in labs; "They also became convinced that George Gey and John Hopkins had stolen their mother's cells and made millions selling them." Many believed that HeLa, the woman behind the story deserved credit for what she did and so did her family. However, Skloot also provides us with another side of the story: "What if Henrietta had been given consent, would there be lines …show more content…
In some cases nurses and/or doctors make a mistake in prosecuting a patient's safety, they must take action; "Disclose the error to the patient." Unlike in Henrietta's case no one had told her the side effects of her treatments and she was unaware that her doctors had made multiple errors in her diagnostic; "Until that moment, Henrietta didn't know her that the treatments had left her infertile." Vicki collaborates in "Patient Safety: The Ethical Imperative", "As a patient's advocate, the nurse must speak to the appropriate person of higher authority when incompetent, unethical, illegal, or impaired practice is noted in any health care professional." For example, when TeLinde was collecting samples, no one objected not even the nurses but Dr. Lawrence Wharton jr. had the liberty to write it down on a SEPARATE sheet of paper in her records. The actions that were taken didn't just affect Henrietta but her family as well especially her daughter Deborah. Henrietta's family didn't even find out about her cells till a few years later and they don't even have medical insurance, many said they should-be been given credit; "patients and, when appropriate, their families are informed about the outcomes of care, treatment, and services that have been provided including unanticipated outcomes." Plus, they misdiagnosed her cancer since it was much more severe than
Throughout the novel, a variety of ethical issues are present in Henrietta's case such as doctors asking permission to take tissue, taking blood (misunderstanding for cancer tests), not specifying her treatments (her doctors put in her records that she had been told as a mistake) and many others. In her operative, there was no provided consent from any of the doctors asking permission to culture her cells; "Though no law or code of ethics required doctors to ask permission before taking tissue from a living patient." Consent comes a long way especially when the family is living in poverty and other "manufacturers" are making money off of their own wife and mother. Her family wondered if what they did with her was correct though, they didn't bear think about it for it only brought them fear. In fact, Day believed that they were ONLY doing an autopsy; what they didn't know that millions of Henrietta's cells were growing in labs; "They also became convinced that George Gey and John Hopkins had stolen their mother's cells and made millions selling them." Many believed that HeLa, the woman behind the story deserved credit for what she did and so did her family. However, Skloot also provides us with another side of the story: "What if Henrietta had been given consent, would there be lines …show more content…
In some cases nurses and/or doctors make a mistake in prosecuting a patient's safety, they must take action; "Disclose the error to the patient." Unlike in Henrietta's case no one had told her the side effects of her treatments and she was unaware that her doctors had made multiple errors in her diagnostic; "Until that moment, Henrietta didn't know her that the treatments had left her infertile." Vicki collaborates in "Patient Safety: The Ethical Imperative", "As a patient's advocate, the nurse must speak to the appropriate person of higher authority when incompetent, unethical, illegal, or impaired practice is noted in any health care professional." For example, when TeLinde was collecting samples, no one objected not even the nurses but Dr. Lawrence Wharton jr. had the liberty to write it down on a SEPARATE sheet of paper in her records. The actions that were taken didn't just affect Henrietta but her family as well especially her daughter Deborah. Henrietta's family didn't even find out about her cells till a few years later and they don't even have medical insurance, many said they should-be been given credit; "patients and, when appropriate, their families are informed about the outcomes of care, treatment, and services that have been provided including unanticipated outcomes." Plus, they misdiagnosed her cancer since it was much more severe than