Medical Information Without Informed Consent
Imagine your loved one has a life threatening disease and their cells were taken unbeknownst to them while in the hospital. Eventually the cells became one of the most groundbreaking findings in scientific history ; however your family member did not receive compensation or recognition. There are numerous cases similar to this where a patient was violated when a doctor takes cell's, body parts, or medical information without receiving consent. Although this is a violation of privacy others believe that consent should not be required for medical research because it could lead to a scientific breakthrough therefore it can be deemed as selfish if the person denies consent. However, the idea of patient approval does not discourage scientific discoveries, informed consent encourages awareness of a person’s medical portion of their life. Consequently informed consent should be mandatory because the patient should be able to ask questions about the study, have awareness of the benefits and risks of the research, and should be allowed to stop the use of their body at any given time.
The corruption of the Tuskegee Study and HeLa are primary illustrations of the importance of medical consent, in both situations patients were taken …show more content…
Without her permission, doctors at John Hopkins Hospital took her cells without asking and they ultimately became one of the most revolutionary findings in the history of science. Skloot writes“... though no one asked if she wanted to be a donor - [Dr.] Wharton picked up a sharp knife and shaved two dime-sized pieces of tissue from Henrietta’s cervix… Henrietta’s were different: they reproduced an entire generation every twenty-four hours, and they never stopped.” (Skloot 33) Henrietta had no idea what was going on with her body when this occurred, but her cells were different thus
The corruption of the Tuskegee Study and HeLa are primary illustrations of the importance of medical consent, in both situations patients were taken …show more content…
Without her permission, doctors at John Hopkins Hospital took her cells without asking and they ultimately became one of the most revolutionary findings in the history of science. Skloot writes“... though no one asked if she wanted to be a donor - [Dr.] Wharton picked up a sharp knife and shaved two dime-sized pieces of tissue from Henrietta’s cervix… Henrietta’s were different: they reproduced an entire generation every twenty-four hours, and they never stopped.” (Skloot 33) Henrietta had no idea what was going on with her body when this occurred, but her cells were different thus