Going off our conversation we had on Thursday, I wanted to talk about the use of prisoners as test subjects compared to Henrietta Lacks. Yes I do believe that both were taken advantage of and weren't told all the information they could have but I'd like to point out that the prisoners had a choice while Henrietta did not. The prisoners were informed that some or of experiment was going on. They were put under certain conditions that made participating for the study seem like the right answer but they did have the choice to say not, and some did. Henrietta Lacks on the other hand had cells taken from her cervix specifically for experimentation. She never had the choice/chance to say, no I do not want to partake in the experiment. Even though I do believe she might have said yes if she was asked; simply taking the cells gave her no choice in the situation.
Also adding on to the the prisoners being able to make the choice of partaking in the study idea ; I feel like several people wouldn't feel bad for the prisoners because they made the choice to put themselves in the place they are. I don't think its right experimenting on them if it is very dangerous but if it is something that has very mild side effects then maybe it isn't 100% a bad idea. I know there are a lot of moral red flags that would turn up but if they are willing and it wouldn't seriously hurt them...why not?
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