Henrietta Lacks
Ethical debates and dilemmas are common in healthcare today. The Henrietta Lacks story was no exception. Her cells were taken without her knowledge and used to form a HeLa cell line, which has been used extensively in medical research (Arts & Entertainment, {A & E}, 2017). The purpose of this paper is to inform others about the Henrietta Lacks story and how ethical issues are relevant to this case.
The story of Henrietta Lack’s is quite fascinating. She was born on August 1, 1920, and died on October 4, 1951. Her status as a poor African American tobacco farmer with an uneducated family ultimately played a role in this case. When Henrietta was 30years old, this mother of five started experiencing great pain and abnormal …show more content…
This was the first time the family was told about the use of Henrietta’s cells. Since a large portion of her family was uneducated, it was very difficult for her family to comprehend what was really going on. Her family was never compensated. Henrietta’s family could not even afford health insurance, yet the whole world has benefited from Henrietta’s cells. Science writer Rebecca Skloot took a significant interest in the Henrietta Lacks story and gained trust in Deborah Lacks, Henrietta’s daughter, and the family to explore all aspects of Henrietta’s unknown life. Sadly, Deborah Lacks died before her mother’s story was published and could be told to the world (Dahlgren & Duster, 2017). The Lack’s family has since shown great concern from other’s profiting from Henrietta’s life. Rebecca Skloot wrote a book and movie about Henrietta’s life entitled, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (Skloot, 2010). Ms. Skloot used the book and movie profits to start the Henrietta Lacks Foundation in 2010. The foundation has been attributed to allowing several of Henrietta’s family members to attend college and even acquire degrees (The Henrietta Lacks Foundation, 2010). In 2013, Mrs. Lacks genome was published online, with her family’s permission. The new National Institutes of Health policy requires …show more content…
Informed consent was virtually unheard of in the early 1950’s. It was not until the early 70’s that informed consent began to play a significant role in healthcare. This time frame greatly affected the ethical lapses in Mrs. Lack’s case. Looking at this case in 2017, Mrs. Lacks autonomy was violated. Her decision to make choices on the potential circumstances of her situation was nonexistent (Butts & Rich, 2016). In 1951, it was not illegal to use human tissue cells for research without consent but, publically identifying Mrs. Lacks as the HeLa line source was. Therefore, Mrs. Lacks identifiable health information was transmitted to the world. Today, this breach of privacy is known as a HIPPA violation, The Health Insurance Portability Privacy Act. However, HIPPA was not put into place until 1996 (Butts & Rich, 2016). They intentionally withheld information to Mrs. Lacks and her family. They did not disclose or communicate pertinent information. The benefit of using HeLa cells was substantial however, it is quite disturbing that this family did not receive compensation. At the very least, her family should have received exclusive health
Ethical debates and dilemmas are common in healthcare today. The Henrietta Lacks story was no exception. Her cells were taken without her knowledge and used to form a HeLa cell line, which has been used extensively in medical research (Arts & Entertainment, {A & E}, 2017). The purpose of this paper is to inform others about the Henrietta Lacks story and how ethical issues are relevant to this case.
The story of Henrietta Lack’s is quite fascinating. She was born on August 1, 1920, and died on October 4, 1951. Her status as a poor African American tobacco farmer with an uneducated family ultimately played a role in this case. When Henrietta was 30years old, this mother of five started experiencing great pain and abnormal …show more content…
This was the first time the family was told about the use of Henrietta’s cells. Since a large portion of her family was uneducated, it was very difficult for her family to comprehend what was really going on. Her family was never compensated. Henrietta’s family could not even afford health insurance, yet the whole world has benefited from Henrietta’s cells. Science writer Rebecca Skloot took a significant interest in the Henrietta Lacks story and gained trust in Deborah Lacks, Henrietta’s daughter, and the family to explore all aspects of Henrietta’s unknown life. Sadly, Deborah Lacks died before her mother’s story was published and could be told to the world (Dahlgren & Duster, 2017). The Lack’s family has since shown great concern from other’s profiting from Henrietta’s life. Rebecca Skloot wrote a book and movie about Henrietta’s life entitled, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (Skloot, 2010). Ms. Skloot used the book and movie profits to start the Henrietta Lacks Foundation in 2010. The foundation has been attributed to allowing several of Henrietta’s family members to attend college and even acquire degrees (The Henrietta Lacks Foundation, 2010). In 2013, Mrs. Lacks genome was published online, with her family’s permission. The new National Institutes of Health policy requires …show more content…
Informed consent was virtually unheard of in the early 1950’s. It was not until the early 70’s that informed consent began to play a significant role in healthcare. This time frame greatly affected the ethical lapses in Mrs. Lack’s case. Looking at this case in 2017, Mrs. Lacks autonomy was violated. Her decision to make choices on the potential circumstances of her situation was nonexistent (Butts & Rich, 2016). In 1951, it was not illegal to use human tissue cells for research without consent but, publically identifying Mrs. Lacks as the HeLa line source was. Therefore, Mrs. Lacks identifiable health information was transmitted to the world. Today, this breach of privacy is known as a HIPPA violation, The Health Insurance Portability Privacy Act. However, HIPPA was not put into place until 1996 (Butts & Rich, 2016). They intentionally withheld information to Mrs. Lacks and her family. They did not disclose or communicate pertinent information. The benefit of using HeLa cells was substantial however, it is quite disturbing that this family did not receive compensation. At the very least, her family should have received exclusive health