Introduction: In 1951, the first immortal cell line was created by a doctor at Johns Hopkins Hospital using tissue samples taken from a young, black woman named Henrietta Lacks. Her cells would come to be known as HeLa cells, and for a very long time, the owner of these cells was a mystery; even her family did not know about them. For years to come, her cells would be used in many important medical and scientific advancements. Over that time, HeLa cells would prove to be instrumental in developing a polio vaccine, gene mapping, and in vitro fertilization. They would even be sent to space to see how cells would react in zero gravity. Since the inception of this mode of research, peoples’ perception of what constitutes moral behavior towards patients and specifically harvesting cells from patients has changed. Over time, other doctors would take cells from patients without patient consent and use them for research. Coming from this, people began to think about how ethical this was, and especially if the potential for scientific or medical advances outweighs the injustices imposed by the lack of obtaining patient consent. One could argue that in the area of ethical behavior and medical advances, it might be necessary and acceptable to take cells or tissue samples without patient consent. And even though these cells and the research of these cells might not affect the patient, what advantages and disadvantages could come from obtaining or not obtaining patient consent? Discussion: Even since ancient times, it was recognized that doctors had power over their patients, and that there must be ethical implications coming with this responsibility. This was first represented in the Hippocratic Oath, which was created by an Ancient Gree... ... middle of paper ... .... 2014. "History of Medicine." History of Medicine. History Learning Site, n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. "INFORMED CONSENT." INFORMED CONSENT. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. "Nazi Medical Experiments: Background & Overview." Background & Overview of Nazi Medical Experiments. Jewish Virtual Library, n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. "The Nuremberg Code." United States Department of Health and Human Services. US Department of Health & Human Services, n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2014. SPECIAL PROGRAMME OF RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND RESEARCH TRAINING IN HUMAN REPRODUCTION GUIDELINE FOR OBTAINING INFORMED CONSENT FOR THE PROCUREMENT AND USE OF HUMAN TISSUES, CELLS AND FLUIDS IN RESEARCH. N.p.: World Health Organization, n.d. PDF. Tyson, Peter. "The Hippocratic Oath Today." PBS. PBS, 27 Mar. 2001. Web. 21 Feb. 2014. Skloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Crown, 2010. Print.
In “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” Rebecca Skloot describes the life of an African American woman named Henrietta Lacks whose “immortal” cells changed both the field of science and her family’s lives forever. When Henrietta Lacks passed away due to cervical cancer at the young age of 31, her family accepted the fact that she was gone forever. However, little did they know that during her treatments, George Gey, a doctor at Johns Hopkins Hospital, took a sample of Henrietta’s cells and named them HeLa in hopes of finding one that multiplied infinitely. Suddenly, worldwide factories began to grow HeLa and began selling them to scientists for testing. During this process, Henrietta’s husband and 5 children had absolutely no idea that Henrietta’s cells were still alive because few knew the actual name of the patient who HeLa came from. Eventually, they found out and were furious at Johns Hopkins and refused to speak to anyone who wanted information on Henrietta. Throughout the book, Rebecca Skloot struggles
"Medical Experiments ." 10 June 2013. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum . 18 March 2014 .
Throughout the book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” the author, Rebecca Skloot, constantly depicts two very different sides to the story of Henrietta Lacks. On one hand, there is the Lacks family; who have fought for the compensation for the work that HeLa cells have done, especially since they were essentially taken from Henrietta and used without her informed consent. On the other hand, there is the scientific community; without the taking of HeLa cells, the understanding of chemotherapy and tissue culturing, and a vaccine for polio, would not be possible today. Although the ethical circumstances for the taking and use of HeLa cells weren’t necessarily just, the use of the cells were more importantly highly impactful in the scientific
In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, multiple cell research studies involving Henrietta’s cells are described. Author Rebecca Skloot writes about Henrietta Lacks’ journey through her cervical cancer and how her cells changed the lives of millions long after her death. Skloot relates the history of cell research, including those studies which were successful and those that were not so successful. It is necessary for the author to include the achievements and disturbing practices of scientists throughout this history to inform readers and focus on the way Henrietta’s cells were used. Truth always matters to readers and Henrietta’s family deserves the truth.
"Nazi Medical Experimentation: The Ethics Of Using Medical Data From Nazi Experiments." The Ethics Of Using Medical Data From Nazi Experiments. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2013.
Copy text from the site/article Henrietta’s cells were the first immortal human cells ever grown in culture.
” Josef Mengele” Holocaust Encyclopedia. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC.June 10, 2013 Web. 24 March 2014
The Ancient Greeks developed the Hippocratic Oath, one of the most widely-known medical texts. Doctors, then and now, take the Oath to show that patients can trust them with their well being. It requires physicians to treat the sick and wounded to the best of their ability. The Oath was originally developed by Hippocrates, a Greek physician who lived from 460 to 377 B.C. (Document 4). Part of the original Oath states that “[physicians] will consider for the benefit of [their] patients, and abstain from whatever is [harmful]...”. The goals of the Oath include maintaining confidentiality, NEEDS WORK
Hippocratic Oath was earliest code of ethics to govern conduct in medicine. Unlike many modern professional codes, its intent was to describe a moral vision for members of the medical community rather than to protect members of the community from incurring on the law. This oath and AMA medical ethics are similar as the primary goal of both codes of ethics is to give full benefit to the
1. Capp, Marshall B. "Ethical and Legal Issues in Research Involving Human Subjects: Do You Want a Piece of Me? -- Kapp 59 (4): 335 -- Journal of Clinical Pathology." BMJ Journals. J Clin Pathol, 18 Jan. 2006. Web. 11 Feb. 2012.
In the 1960s the HeLa cells were everywhere. In the 1960s the scientist wondered since the cells grew so fast and lived on earth so well if they would live in space. They got the idea to send the Hela cells to space. They sent several vials into space by the Discoverer XVII when it went. They discovered that when the HeLa cells went to space they became more powerful and divided faster every time they went to space. Several years later in 1965 they took equal amounts from the HeLa cells and cells from a mouse. The scientists done this to study to see what the genes would do. Harris also took HeLa cells and chicken cells, but they discovered they couldn’t reproduce.
According to the Holocaust historian Saul Friedländer’s testimony, all Jewish were hunted all over the continent, to the very last individual, until the last day of German presence. Identifying the Jews as the enemy of humankind was preached by Adolf Hitler. He said: “we are brought back to a peculiar brand of apocalyptic anti-Semitism, the extraordinary virulence of which remains the only way of explaining both the physical onslaught against all Jews living within the German reach and against any part of human culture created by Jews, or showing any trace of the Jewish spirit” ( Bazyler & Fybel, 2008, P.11). During the Holocaust time, Jewish population suffered very much with Germans’ torture in the Nuremberg concentration camp. They were subject to the Nazi human experimentation which was a series of medical experiments on large numbers of Jewish prisoners, including children. According to Evelyn Shuster’s writing, she proved that “on October 1, 1946, the International Military Tribunal handed down its verdicts in the trials of 22 Nazi leaders, and eleven were given the death penalty, three were acquitted, three were given life imprisonment and four were given imprisonment ranging from ten to twenty years.”(Evelyn Shuster, 1998). She also wrote about “the Nuremberg Code” which was an important document in the history of the ethics of medical research that described the judgment of Nazi doctors accused of conducting the human experiments in the concentration camps. The Nuremberg code is serving as a blueprint for today's principles that ensure the rights of subjects in medical research. Evelyn wrote “Because of its link with the horrors of World War II and the use of prisoners in Nazi concentration camps for medical experimentation, debate continues today about the authority of the Code, its applicability to modern medical research, and
During World War II in Nazi Germany, over 200 doctors conducted painful, barbaric, and typically lethal experiments on concentration camp prisoners, often against their will. The overt purpose of these experiments included increasing survival odds of military personnel, testing pharmaceuticals and treatments to cure illnesses and injuries, and researching methods to promote “German nationalism.” However, the covert purpose of many of these medical experiments was for the Nazi’s to implement the “Final Solution,” a plan which ultimately resulted in the extermination of over 6 million Jews.1 While perhaps only the highest ranking Nazi doctors were privy to the grand Nazi strategy concerning medical experimentation on prisoners, a rather wide
In the aftermath of World War II, countless cases of Nazi war crimes were exposed and confronted by the Allied powers. In particular, the astounding death toll as a result of human experimentation was put under special scrutiny. During the famed Nuremberg trials in 1946, the American judges conducted a separate proceeding, referred to as the “Doctor’s Trial,” in which 23 German physicians and administrators were tried under accusations of the murder and torture of multitudinous concentration camp inmates. These proceedings invoked many questions in regards to rightly handling human experimentation, and they were answered with the resulting Nuremberg code, which provided several guidelines for acceptable and ethical human experimentation. However,
Hippocrates was a Greek physician who made such an impression on medical history that his name is still very much associated with medicine today. All newly qualified doctors take what is called the ‘Hippocratic Oath’. Hippocrates is considered as the father of modern medicine even though he did most of his work some 430 years before the birth of Christ. It is he who finally freed medicine from the shackles of magic, superstition and the supernatural. My goal in this paper is to explore the work done by Hippocrates which led him to being known as the father of modern medicine.