Medical Reimbursement

In class we talked about whether or not the Lacks family should receive compensation for the medical breakthroughs that came about as a result of Henrietta's cell line. I feel that they do not deserve compensation but maybe as a good gesture maybe the medical bills should have been taken care of so the family didn't have to worry about them. David "Sonny" Lacks spoke last May at the California Center for the Arts in Escondido. He said himself that he feels the family should not be compensated for his mothers cells being taken. He felt that the family should have been informed that the cells were being taken, what they were being taken for, and the intent of the research. The only reimbursement he feel the family should have received is for the cells being sold to labs all over the world because medical companies did commercialized his mothers cells. Which to me seems fair.

HeLa Attention

During our discussion on Tuesday, I was trying to follow the discussion, with some difficulty, about the first section of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.  I was a little confused by the reading and what we were discussing.  As I understood it, Henrietta Lacks was admitted for surgery much earlier than African-American women tended to be during the time she first became sick.  This was nearing the rise of the civil rights movement, so anyone associated with a darker skin tone was sent to the colored section, which she initially was, and was taken into consideration at a later time.  The fact that she was admitted as early as she was and was operated on surprised me, although she had been sent home before when she came in complaining about a pain that ended up being a tumor.  I'm just curious as to why she was taken into care as quickly as she was at John Hopkins, and if she hadn't been admitted and operated on at that point, if she would have been at all, and if the HeLa cell line would have come to be known to us at all.

Prisoners vs. Lacks

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? 

Medical Copyright?

As we were discussing the issues concerning Henrietta Lacks and her immortal cell line, the question arose as to whether or not her or her family deserved financial reimbursement due to the medical breakthrough resulting from her experience.  I had a bit of a problem with this, a lot because this concept goes hand in hand with the idea of copyright.  Although Henrietta was influential in the founding of the immortal cell line, she made no scholarly contribution to its founding.  She didn't even grant consent for the procedure, so she had no awareness of her cells even being taken from her.  Although I agree that Henrietta's story is significant in the history of medical science, I do not view her as an individual as significant.   If you reimburse her family, then every time someone's treatment requires her cell line, she would need more reimbursement and then you get into the idea of copyright and is medical copyright even ethical.  I just didn't see a need to financial reimburse them out of sympathy.  It could have been anyone.  Like I said in class, it's like hitting the lottery.

Gender Inclusivity

The Gender Inclusivity Forum took place on Wednesday to a smaller crowd than I expected. Gender inclusivity was the topic, but when push came to shove some of the biggest criticisms were quickly shut down by members of the administration. Even when a transgendered student stood up and told his story and the injustices he suffered while trying to just fit in, the ominous presence of the administration in the room was clearly felt.

The underlying problem I felt while in the forum was of the freshmen single sex buildings on our campus. Vice President Herman countered statements in support of this housing structure stating that several students who enroll enroll solely because of their parents penchant for the the single sex rooms. However, any student can sign into any other students room at night, so the separation created by this policy truly only extends so far. Of the parents if our students aren't progressive enough to accept this, then I feel that is a ridiculous notion.

SUNY Fredonia is in the category of "university colleges" of the SUNY system, setting them apart from university centers such as UB and UA, and community colleges and tech schools. Of these university colleges, Fredonia is the last school other than SUNY Maritime that has single sex freshmen buildings. We need to reassess this situation and change our course as an institution.

Johns Hopkins Hospital

In the discussion of Johns Hopkins Hospital being built in the African American neighborhood -was it for the sole purpose of having available test subjects or were the intentions to actually help those individuals? I think that after reading part two, Skloot explained and provided a letter from Hopkins himselfin which Hopkins' intentions were to benefit African Americans, not exploit or take advantage of them. In my opinion his intentions of placing the hospital where he did was to help those who couldn’t afford medical care. In his letter he expresses how he wants to help the poor and he even set aside money for the children who are orphaned. Do you think his intentions represent what actually occurred in the facility? Many African Americans were afraid to be near the hospital having the idea that they might be kidnapped for research and testing. I think he would have viewed what was happening as unethical treatment towards the black population.

-emothersell

What you don't know won't hurt you

Although I think that Henrietta Lack's family should have been told what was happening to her cells, I think it was a good thing that the Doctor did not release her name into the public.  Her name does not reveal her race and her race was not questioned when the magazines were inquiring about her name.  Henrietta's family was also not very educated.  If her name was released there could have been a possibility of other family members being exploited.  In Henrietta's case it was absolute chance that she had a cell line that would reproduce quickly.  She wasn't chosen from a pool of people for her cells to be taken, but her family could have been a target to see if other family members could produce cancer cells in the same way.  Being uneducated would have let the doctors do whatever they wanted to their bodies.  Full disclosure was not part of the doctors agenda.  By the end of the book, what the family didn't know ultimately hurt them.
Compensation was also a topic that was brought up.  Henrietta did not do anything to get paid however, the doctors did take something from her body.  The Lacks family could have used the money but the question of how much and exactly how the family would be compensated arises.  If the family was compensated with money, how much would be deemed appropriate and would they have been compensated in the first place because they were black?  I don't think we can honestly say that if they were white they would have been compensated unless we have a similar example.  Henrietta's story is unique because it was complete chance, so it is hard to make assumptions without bringing in what-if scenarios.