Henrietta Lacks Essay

1273 Words6 Pages
Dignity Violation (1) Everyone chooses to live their life differently. Some people take life for granted and others live like there is no tomorrow, some people are rich, others are poor. Even though most different types of lifestyles vary do you think there is anyone that would like to live a life where their dignity was violated? For example, if you had something that was taken from you without your permission. The person who best fits this example is talked about by author Rebecca Skloot in her book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Skloot talks about Henrietta’s life as a child,how her family suffered, and mainly how Henrietta’s dignity was breached. Skloot describes how Henrietta had no idea what was going on with her treatment when she says, “Henrietta knew nothing about her cells growing in a laboratory. After leaving the hospital, she went back to life as usual”(42). This shows how doctors and scientists never informed Henrietta about anything about her treatment, in the only hospital that would take her, Johns Hopkins. No matter how rich or poor you are, or what color your skin is, everyone has a right to informed consent, and no one’s dignity should ever be breached. (2) Dale Keiger, editor of Johns Hopkins Magazine in his article “Immortal Cells, Enduring Issues” argues that the goal of doctors and scientists is to do good, not to intentionally breach patients’ privacy, but it does happen because it is a complicated situation. Keiger argues that while privacy shouldn’t be violated, it is never easy to understand. His main purpose in this essay is for people to not be so hard on the doctors, because it’s a very complicated process. The audience for this article can be for people in a waiting room in a hospital, John Hopkins alumni, and/or people with at least a college education. The reason it’s for at least a college education is because he uses
Open Document