Henrietta's Ethical Dilemma

If Henrietta’s was a white, educated, rich women from an affluent neighborhood. I do not believe the outcome would have been different. I do not think race, gender or social economic status, or the fact that she died in a segregated hospital, played a major role in the outcome of his ethical dilemma. I hypothesize that when Dr. Richard TeLinde, head of gynecology and Dr. George Gey, head of tissue culture, found out that Henrietta’s cells were immortal they were so intrigued, it is as if they had hit the scientific discovery of a lifetime jackpot.The fact that her cells kept reproducing at the rate that it did, I think they were amazed and fascinated by it. Johns Hopkins nor the doctors profited directly, because Gey gave the cells internationally to anyone who wanted

the rules have changed since then, and they are still changing. The National Institutes of Health recently modified requirements for consent for use of tissues and related medical data in research. Now, researchers must comply with a new policy that promotes sharing of genomic information in a way that protects privacy of people who donated samples for research. The policy also requires consent for future use of all tissues. Researchers will initially explain why they are interested in conducting research on cells but are not required to keep individuals informed of what happens to the information and cells after data collection. However, individual have a right to ask the researcher any questions they may have; they also have a right to contact the IRB. Like I stated earlier changes are wonderful and sometimes in life something bad/unethical has to happen to someone as in the story about Henrietta’s Lacks for changes to come about. Although it took more than 60 years to fully acknowledge the origin and history of Henrietta’s cells, it is reassuring to see that efforts are now being made to ensure that her family’s best interest remains at the forefront of future research. (Martinez,