“Henrietta signed a consent form that said, ‘I hereby give consent to the staff of The Johns Hopkins Hospital to perform any operative procedures and under any anaesthetic either local or general that they may deem necessary in the proper surgical care and treatment of: ________________’ (page 31).
Based on this statement, do you believe TeLinde and Gey had the right to obtain a sample from her cervix to use in their research? What information would they have had to give her for Henrietta to give informed consent? Do you think Henrietta would have given explicit consent to have a tissue sample used in medical research if she had been given all the information?” (380).
I do not believe that statement gave them the OK to take samples from her. It reads "that they may deem necessary in the proper surgical care and treatment of". Taking those samples did not provide her with surgical care or a treatment. They should have told her that they wanted to take samples for medical research that could potentially save many lives. I think Hennrietta would have been delighted to help others.
ReplyDeleteMorgan Hicks
While the cell samples did not directly further the Henrietta's treatment, they did aide in the treatment of multiple other diseases. Still, Henrietta did not give permission for cell samples to be taken. If Henrietta had been a middle class white woman, I don't know that TeLinde and Gey would have taken the cells without her knowledge. It doesn't seem that TeLinde and Gey were trying to deceive Henrietta, but they should not have taken her cells without asking. Like Morgan said, I am sure that the loving caregiver that she was, Henrietta would have jumped at the chance to advance science and potentially save the lives of people all over the world. I am sure that she never could have imagined the impact that her cancer has had on the world.
ReplyDeleteEmily Davis
Until I read Chapter 12: The Storm, I was not aware that doctors were not required to ask permission to take tissue samples from living patients (page 89), so, in fact, TeLinde and Gey were not legally obligated to ask permission from Henrietta before taking cell samples.
ReplyDeleteEmily Davis
I also didn't know that doctors weren't legally obligated to ask permission to take tissue samples from living patients. However, I would have thought that it would have at least been a common courtesy to ask for the patient's permission. I think that race was also a factor because if she was white, Gey and TeLinde wouldn't have hesitated to ask beforehand. They should have been completely honest, not leaving her in the dark about anything. Her relatives and friends described Henrietta as a loving caregiver, like Morgan said, so I think that she would have agreed if they had asked, since her cells helped save millions of lives.
ReplyDeleteTaryn Jack
Hela's consent was also in question when she discovered she could no longer have children after the treatments. If she had been properly informed from the beginning, things may have gone quite different. It may not have been statute, but I learned in psychology that as early as 1767 informed consent was a common law (my mind fails me, but there was a lawsuit that year..slate vs. someone about a broken arm). Sure, taking a few cancerous cells seems harmless, but the idea of her cells still being alive beyond her, may have made her rather uneasy.
ReplyDeleteHenrietta would definitely jump at the chance to help others, or perhaps she may not understand why they wanted her cells and simply agree. I do not think the form she signed expressed their permission for taking cells. Some information about taking samples should have been included. In our day and age it seems unprofessional and "shady" to take something of another person without their knowledge. Isn't that against the law?
ReplyDeleteThe statement is borderline either way. One could argue that the statement says "perform any operative procedures" and that makes it acceptable for the doctors to do what they did. But you could also argue that they didn't tell Henrietta anything at all about what they actually were going to do tissue wise. I feel that if they had told her that they were going to take samples she would've interpretted it as cutting peices of her off, and i'm pretty sure she wouldn't have let them do that.
ReplyDeleteI think Henrietta gave the doctors permission to take those cells from her. Further, she did it knowingly, and she did it twice. Henrietta was aware of the tumor in her cervix; remember that it was these cancerous cells which would eventually become HeLa. She understood that they needed to be removed, and implicitly asked the doctors to take these cells from her. Henrietta also signed their consent form. While the culturing of her cells was not explicitly stated, why would it be? It was unrelated to Henrietta's treatment; whether those cells were cultured, thrown out, or cooked in a souffle after removal was really none of her concern, in terms of treating her illness. And Taryn, may I respectfully disagree? Race was not the reason; it was the time. Henrietta's surgery occurred in a time when "informed consent" did not exist, and nearly no one asked to run tests on your tissues once they cut them out of you--this was the way it worked whether you were black, white, red or purple.
ReplyDeleteThough TeLindle and Gey did not permission, it would have been more morally correct if they had asked Henrietta for permission. I do not necessarily believe that if they had asked Henrietta for permission, she would have agreed to it though. Due to her lack of education and other beliefs, I believe Henrietta would have been hesitant to have her cells harvested for testing. Because other members of the Lacks family were concerned that Henrietta may be feeling pain as her cells were undergoing various testing,I believe Henrietta may have had the same unstated fear. However, as it has been said, if Henrietta knew all the great advancements that would come from the situation, I believe she would have given permission without hesitation despite fear of pain.
ReplyDeleteAllon Gillispie
I agree with Zach Garcia, that the statement is borderline and could easily be argued either way. I don’t think that TeLinde and Gey informed her correctly. She did not know until afterwards that she would not be able to have children. However, I do think if informed properly and given the correct details about the cancer she had that she would have been willing to give cell samples and potentially help and inform others around the world with the research that came from her cells.
DeleteNo, they had no right to take the sample without asking her. The consent form was only for treating her, it said nothing about taking samples from her cervix without her knowledge or consent. However, it was technically legal at the time, therefore while Henrietta should have been informed, the doctors technically did absolutely nothing wrong.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do not think that Henrietta would have minded. Based on my interpretation of the reading, she would have done anything to help someone in need and her cells did just that. Therefore, I believe that she would not have minded one bit about them taking a sample from her.
I do not believe that the consent form that Henrietta Lacks signed covered the collection of samples. Although, as Emily Davis states in her comment, “the doctors were not required to ask permission to take tissue samples from living patients,” I still do not believe it was right. If everything was fully explained, then she may have given permission to take the samples knowing how it would help millions of people in the end, but that would have been her choice.
ReplyDeleteMarissa has taken the minority position on this question. Would some of you respond directly to her claim, stated above? Marissa, if we get any takers, you may choose to respond to them.
ReplyDelete