Analysis Of The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks

The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks highlights how ethically flawed medicine once was and perhaps still is. It tells the devastating story of a woman whose cells were collected and cultured without her consent and its wondrous effect within the medical community as well as the equally distressing effect on her family. Preceding the 50s, scientists, specifically Dr. George Otto Gey have been trying without success to cultivate human cells in laboratories for decades. Henrietta Lacks was an African American tobacco farmer who was diagnosed and eventually succumbed from cervical cancer in 1951. Prior to her treatment, Lacks signed a statement permitting any surgery necessary but Dr. Wharton, before beginning the radium treatment, takes two samples from the unconscious Henrietta without her knowledge; one from her tumor and another from healthy tissue. He then provides Dr. TeLinde with these samples, who in turn delivers them to Dr. Gey. These cancerous, then dubbed, HeLa cells began to grow successfully and Gey began to give samples out to his colleagues, essentially staring a billion dollar industry.

The author, Rebecca Skloot illustrates the ethical dilemmas of informed consent, disclosure, confidentiality, and of what rights people had or have over their organs, tissues, cells etc. The book also focuses on race, being that it was more prevalent at the time.

Disclosure is an essential aspect of a medical professional and his or her patients’ relationships. In the 1950s, the medical client and professional relationship was one of paternalism as opposed to the now fiduciary relationship. Then a paternalistic professional took all of the responsibilities, disclosed what he then thought was necessary, and essentially told the patien...

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... the reason that because of their actions, millions of people were saved. The HeLa cells were a crucial tool in modern medicine as they were vital in developing the polio vaccine, cloning, and gene mapping, as well as studying several viruses. A Utilitarian, being exclusively focused on consequences would view that the ethical breach in regards to Henrietta Lacks as necessary. Ethics of Care however, would view the doctors’ actions as unethical because feminist ethics prioritizes personal relationships and moral responsibility. Ethics of care emphasizes on caring for others but Lacks’ doctors were only thinking of themselves and trying to revolutionize medicine that they horribly mistreated her which was largely due to her race. So, in the perspective of Feminist ethics, the doctors’ exploitation and the overall garnering of HeLa cells was an immense ethical breach.