The Secret Life Of Henrietta Reflection

Reflection 1

The Secret Life of Henrietta really reflects more than just advancement in the medical society, but also by how societal expectations and norms have changed over a period of time. Henrietta’s cells were taken without her permission’’’ and this wasn’t an uncommon practice during that time. The reason this wasn’t an uncommon practice can be contributed to factors such as race, class, gender, and the actual view of medicinal research at the time. The first factor can be discussed is the idea of being a colored individual. In many medical facilities there was segregation between the white individuals and the colored folk “The public wards at Hopkins…only major hospital for miles that treated black patients” (Skloot, 2010). The

The idea of needing informed consent is really a basic idea when it comes to the ethics behind donating, but the idea that’s really surprising is that “…the Common Rule doesn’t actually govern most tissue research” (Skloot, 2010).This is surprising because the rule is supposed to be there and be enforced and since it is not enforced many people may have their rights violated. The other ideas of the HIPPA regulations and other consent precautions may help to deter the violation of rights; however there are still many issues that are widely disputed such as the family changing their mind after their loved one has past and whether or not that’s admissible. The other idea of money is also very prevalent issue because the commercialization off of donated materials can be considered unethical. If you look at patients who decide to donate their body to science they looked to make medical advancements possible. A profit made off donated tissue can in a sense be compared to companies earning a profit over the goods that are donated. Charity always has its costs especially because in this instance you would have to fund both the doctors and the research which in turn costs