Why Is Henrietta Lacks Unethical

One of the most fundamental trust relationships is between a patient and their doctor. Physicians have supposedly earned their trustworthy title because of their extended education and desire to help others. However, this perception is being shattered by physicians violating patients’ trust by not providing all the information needed for making a responsible decision for a person’s health and performing unimaginable procedures. “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” provides multiple examples of the unethical practice of doctors. When scientists do not recognize their subjects as human beings and their relationship results in an unbalanced power dynamic, their advantageous position often leads to the unethical treatments of subjects, especially

Another example of scientists believing that their lies are justified, is the Lacks family’s blood being requested after their mother, Henrietta Lacks, died. The physician conned the family into donating their blood to him by terrorizing the family into believing that the children could also have Henrietta’s cancer. He simply told the family that he was testing the blood for cancer, even though there is no real way to test for all types of cancer with blood. Also, the researchers were not cancer researchers, they were scientists studying genetics; therefore, they would have nothing to do with cancer anyways. This doctor provided false information to the family as to what he was testing the blood for, therefore exploiting the family’s privacy and trust. In Tuskegee, Alabama a group of men were chosen for an experiment involving the observation of how syphilis occurs in black men and its long term non-treated consequences. At the time of the experiment, the only treatment that was available was a heavy metal therapy; however, the scientists believed it was doing more harm than good. Therefore, they did not inform the men about the treatment and distracted them with basic incentives like hot meals and transportation. When penicillin, a cure for syphilis, was discovered the doctors made the decision to shield the cure away from the men. This is proof that scientists are

This is because the scientists understand that the people cannot defend themselves and doctors can exploit them with no problems. For example, Southam choose cancer patients to test his hypothesis of cancer being caused by virus. Cancer patients are in a position where they have normalized constant tests being performed on them, therefore it did not seem out of the ordinary for their “immune systems” to be tested. Also, these patients are going through a traumatic process and are extremely ill, therefore this doctor patient trust is vital. After Southam determined that sick people reacted to the cancerous cells, he decided to mobilize his experiments to healthy people. In an Ohio prison, 65 inmates were chosen to receive cancerous cells injections into their arms. These prisoners were chosen because they are in a vulnerable position in life with the loss of their freedom and identity. These prisoners are willing to do whatever it takes to not be in jail; this means agreeing to a potentially extremely dangerous situation in order to earn brownie points within the eyes of society. It was not until later in history when prison experiments became regulated because of prisoners’ inability to provide informed consent. These prisoners could use the experiment as a way to prove to the board that they are fit for society because they are participating in a help for