Ethical Principles Paper
Kalina Anderson
University of Phoenix
May 18, 2015

Introduction Ethics is defined as the branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct. More simply put, it is the standards that members of a profession must follow. In psychology, ethics plays a big role in psychology because it protects the client and the counselor as well. However, in the case on Henrietta Lacks, it seems that there was no room for ethics during these scientists studies. Henrietta Lacks was a poor black tobacco farmer whose cells were taken without her knowledge in 1951. She was considered one of the most important tools in medicine and vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning gene mapping, and more (Skloot, 2010). Summary In an Internet video, Film Media Group (2012) states that in 1860, Benjamin Lacks had two children by a black mistress and they all worked in the tobacco field for three generations. Then, in 1942, Benjamin Lack's great granddaughter Henrietta Lacks (her friends called her “Hennie”) moved to Baltimore and died there in 1951. Right before she died, her cancer cells were taken from her body to help research and “conquer death.” Since then, her cells have been growing and multiplying since. There was a laboratory close to where Henrietta lived. In that laboratory was Dr. George Gey who wanted to rid the world of cancer. After a gynecologist appointment, abnormal, purple and cancerous tissue was given to Dr. Gey to study and from there, the study began. Afraid of a potential lawsuit from Henrietta's family, Dr. Gey kept the secret of the cells and referred to the cells “HeLa” (Film Media Group, 2012). This was the first time human cells have ever been tested on. Millions of HeLa cells were being sold. The military did their own test on the cancerous cells to conduct atomic tests to see how radiation would effect human tissue, Cosmetic companies tested the cells to see what side effects might occur with their products. Her cells even helped create a vaccine to conquer polio. By this time, many scientist had gotten ahold of HeLa cells and Skloot (2010) stated, after these occurrences, a virologist named Charles Southam had the idea that the HeLa cells could infect the scientists working on them. Because of this idea, Southam placed an ad in Ohio State Penitentiary newsletter seeking twenty-five volunteers. As a result of this ad, prisoners (murderers, embezzlers, robbers, and forgers) could not wait to volunteer and were flooding up to 150 prisoners volunteers (p.128-129). These prisoners believed this was a great way to make a right of all the wrongs they have done.In 1956 prisoners were injected with HeLa cells to see if it would cause cancer. The results came back inconclusive Some prisoners grew tumors but it never caused full blown cancer. Skloot (2010), also stated that Southam started testing gynecologic surgery patients from Sloan-Kettering's Memorial Hospital or James Ewing hospital and told them he was testing for cancer, which, he believed he was. However, he found that it seemed that people with cancer were rejecting the cells more slowly than healthy people did (p. 130).
Ethics Violated The story of Henrietta Lacks is a controversial topic because doctors took her cells without asking. Those cells never died and launched a medical revolution and a multi-million dollar industry. Henrietta's cells were bought and sold by the billions, yet she remained virtually unknown while her family could barely afford health insurance (Skloot, 2010). “If cancer were cured, one could make a great deal of money,” (Film Media Group, 2012). As mentioned earlier, Southam was testing on gynecologic surgery patients. There are a few ethical issues with Southam, one issue was that he was not these patients doctor. He also refrained from using the word cancer because of the negative connotations associated with it. He did not tell the patients that he was injecting cancerous cells so he deceived patients into thinking “To use the dreaded word 'cancer' in connection with any clinical procedure on an ill person is potentially delirious to that patient's well-being, because it may suggest him (rightly or wrongly) that his diagnosis is cancer or that it may suggest his prognosis is poor...To withhold such emotionally disturbing but medically nonpertinent details...is in the best tradition of responsible clinical practice.” (Skloot, p. 130). Southam's deception was for his benefit because although he was not withholding upsetting health information, he refrained from telling his patients that the cells were cancerous because his patients might not have participated if they would have known what he was injecting and would not have been able to continue his research. Southam made an arrangement with a doctor named Emmanuel Mandel who was a director at Jewish Chronic Disease Hospital in Brooklyn. The plan was to use Mandel's hospital for his research. The plan was to inject JCDH patients without informing them they were being injected with cancer cells. A few of the doctors refused because they were aware of the Nuremberg trials (Skloot, p. 131). There was a tribunal war in Germany, these were called the Nuremberg trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the Allied forces after World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of Nazi Germany. After these trials, the tribunal set forth a ten-point code of ethics called Nuremberg code (Skloot, 2010). This was a code that governed all human experimentation world wide and the first line of the code states, “ The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential” (Skloot, p. 131). However, this code was not a law but more seen as a list of recommendations and not taught in medical schools. This might be why Southam claimed to have no knowledge of these trials. Politicians had been introducing state and federal laws with hopes of regulating human experimentation, but physicians and researchers always protested.
Diversity Implications No legal implications were involved. The body and everything that comes with it should belong to the family. However, after this issue was taken up with lawyers, they had approached biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies but they were turned away. They did not have a single case. Since they couldn't get any money from this case, the least the Lacks' family could do was fight for the well deserved recognition of Henrietta. Cultural implications were involved because they began a campaign that eventually was picked up by radical black magazines. Film Media Group, 2012 states that her family believes scientists did not want to recognize the medical strides they made were from a black female and felt if the cells were from a white female then the world would know who she is right now. They believed they did not want a black female holding the title of the most famous woman in the world in medical history. Each community likely has its own beliefs, values and wishes in relation to genetic material and the use of information that arises from their own genes. Lack of sensitivity or ignorance of these beliefs, values, and wishes may halt any future use of the technology; proponents of widespread use of advanced genetic medicine may find that without exploration and identification of potential barriers the successful use of such technology is hindered or even prevented.

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Reference
Film Media Group (2012, December 19). Cancer Cells Research: The Way of All Flesh [Video file]. Retrieved from Films on Demand website: http://digital.films.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx? aid=7967&xtid=7095
Skloot, R. (2010). The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. : Broadway.