Provision one of the ANA code of ethics (2015) states that the worth or value a person has is based solely on the fact that they are human and not by their social status, ability to evoke admiration, or because of any talents. (Fowler, 2015, p.8). Before beginning Henrietta Lack’s story skoolt starts off by quoting Elie Wiesel, the quote states “We must not see any person as an abstraction. Instead, we must see in every person a universe with its own secrets, with its own treasures, with its own sources of anguish, and with some measure of triumph”. (Skloot, 2010). Once you’ve interpreted and understood this quote and then let it guide your reading you can see the many occasions in which Henrietta and her family were viewed as just abstractions, people without any value.
Various ways the scientific community and the media are guilty viewing Henrietta and her family as abstractions. From the moment, Henrietta’s cells were removed from her body it was clear that none of the doctors or researchers had any value for her as a person because of the unethical way they went about obtaining what they needed for their research. Their perspectives become even clearer once Henrietta died. The news of her death reached Gey’s …show more content…
Any morally conscious person should’ve know that it was wrong to not give Henrietta Lacks and her family the credit they deserved for making such a significant contribution to the science community and amongst other things. TeLinde himself knew that the way he went about obtaining cells for his research was wrong and unethical because instead of identifying Henrietta Lacks as the key contributor of HeLa cells he used a fake name. When advancements in research are made in ways like the Tuskegee project and taking cells without consent society will come to not value these advancements because of the harsh ways they are