Ethical Issues
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Ethical issues
Introduction
The ethical concern arises when some decisions, situations, or happenings bring disagreements to society’s moral knowledge and principles. If no outlined guidelines are set to deal with the concerns, it becomes tough to manage the organization and derail duties execution. Some ethical concerns include the accessibility of information by the involved parties. Upholding ethical values is essential to integrating communication between the two parties and promoting mutual respect among them.
Some of the notable ethical concerns in the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks are:
Informed consent- every patient has the right to be told every detail in the course of their treatment. This helps in enhancing trust levels between the patients and the doctors. Mainly informed consent enables patients to make sound and informed decisions regarding their treatment and procedures to be performed on them. I realized this right was consecutively broken by the doctors treating Henrietta and her family in my study book. The book reveals that her cervix was taken from Hopkins without her knowledge and used for biological studies at the hospital. She could not question where and what was being done to her cells because she did not understand anything as she was uneducated and because no information was revealed to her about what was being done. Her family did not know what their mothers’ impact on the medicine and science fields was.
Ethics on genetic production- If a patient can claim ownership of an issue in science from which their bodies or parts were used to fulfill are asked and answered under genetic production ethics. I first gather from the book that the doctors used her body parts and cells for biological studies without informing her this is a breach of genetics ethics. From the book, I noted that at a certain time, the Lack’s family gave blood to a doctor who did not reveal the rightful purpose of the information, which was meant for genetic testing. Genuinely this is wrong genetics ethics that was upheld. It would have been right for the doctor to reveal the sample blood’s rightful purpose to the family (Sandler, 2020).
Ethics on how information is revealed- how information is relayed, time convenience in relaying the information to a patient by the doctors is essential to understand what is being told to them. A breach of the ethics of relaying information is noted first in 1974 when the Lack’s family gave out a blood sample to McKusick, a doctor who did not reveal the blood sample’s truthful purpose. This left the daughter Henrietta too anxious and worried about what was going on. She mostly feared a cancer diagnosis, which took away her mother at a very young age. The doctor’s report on the findings of the blood samples collected took too long for the family to access them. When Dr. McKausick handed the report was too complicated for the family to understand what it contained. The information was too complex for them to understand as it was too high above their understanding, making it worse. It was not explained to them. The family did not know what was going on with their mother’s cells, an issue that caused a serious breakdown to Henrietta’s daughter. It would have been ethically right to: provide a clear, explained, and timely explanation of what the blood sample was for and the findings after the tests.
The Relevance of Ethical Issues in Nursing
Importance of informed consent- enhances the making of sound and informed decision making by patients about their lives. Through informed consent, there is a creation of healthy trust between the patients and their doctors through good understanding. It further ensures that a patient understands what the treatment involves and the risks associated with it. Informed consent reduces both parties’ risks due to free and good communication (Bautista-Espinel, et al., 2017).
The essence of ethics in genetic production- through the observance of ethics in genetic production, there is increased goodwill and cooperation between the involved parties; this, in a large way, increases the chance of producing good and expected results matching the goals of the study. By following ethics, there is room for all involved parties to make sound decisions, and awareness is raised on the concern. There are minimal struggles and fights expected from the lack of awareness and not following ethics during the study.
Need for ethics in information revealing- this amounts to a proper understanding of what all the procedures involved are all about and therefore increased cooperation. A sense of cooperation amongst the involved parties is great due to their understanding and honesty levels, not forgetting the development of a mutual relationship. It helps the parties identify what information is to be revealed and how it should be revealed to others.
Possible Causes of Ethical Issues
Racism- just like in recent times, unethical practices are inclined to racism. The same was witnessed in those olden days. From my study book, Henrietta being a black, poor, uneducated woman who led an African-American lifestyle, for her life was hard and unaffordable to her in so many ways. In those days, ‘ hospitals had sections divided based on races. When she fell sick, she knew she could not afford all hospitals and opted for Hopkins hospital, where she was still treated unethically due to her being.
Financial gains- from the book, doctors who started experimenting with Henrietta and her family are believed to have gained billions from the study. They did not compensate Henrietta’s family. Unethical practices are mostly upheld to benefit those practicing unethical behaviors financially.
Health arrogance- back then, it was not a rule to reveal all information to the patients, but it was vital to inform them. Doctors treating her ignored the right to information on the reasons for sample needs and the intended purpose of the samples collected. This is enough evidence of the arrogance of health practitioners to follow guidelines on ethical rules.
Social gains- breaching ethical guidelines for parties to have a specific kind of affiliation that is social is also present. Practitioners breach ethics for family, friends, and family gains to have social companions.
Conclusion
In the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, there are situations of unethical practices that demeaned and strained the doctor’s relationships and the Lacks family. Failure to relay information correctly and Cleary relay information, concerns on genetic engineering, and concerns on tissue ownership are some of the doctors’ unethical practices towards Henrietta and her family. Some of these practices were undertaken for financial gains, social gains, and we cannot fail to mention some were out of lack of awareness of their essence. The issues proved catastrophic and really broke the Lack’s family because, to their eyes, those were wrongful deeds done unto them. Therefore, all healthcare institutions need to uphold ethical practices to maintain healthy relationships and promote respect with their patients.
References
Bautista-Espinel, G. O., Ardila-Rincón, N. A., Castellanos-Peñaloza, J. C., & Gene-Parada, Y. (2017). Knowledge and importance nursing professionals have on informed consent applied to nursing care acts. Universidad y Salud, 19(2), 186-196.
Sandler, R. (2020). The ethics of genetic engineering and gene drives in conservation. Conservation Biology, 34(2), 378-385.