Ewen Callay Informed Consent

Informed Consent The basic building blocks for all living things are cells. Most cells cannot be seen by the human eye, but they play a massive role in life because they make up tissue, which develops into an organism (What Is a Cell?). These organisms include humans and humans study cells in order to fix physical damage done to the human body and create cures for diseases, and disabilities (Why Cell Biology is So Important?). Therefore, cell research provides medical benefits, but it also creates a rising dilemma occurring presently in medical science, where a patient’s cells are being taken without his or her consent. This problem is further discussed in both the articles “Deal Done over HeLa Cell Cine” by Ewen Callaway and “Taking the Least
Capitalism in Skloot’s article is heavily emphasized as all of the cases that are presented are influenced by money. An example of this is not only Moore’s case, but also William Catalona’s case. Catalona was a researcher who was already in the practice of giving his patients an informed consent and his patients knowing exactly what would happen to their cells accepted Catalona’s research. However, his employer Washington University would not allow the cells to return to the patients after firing Catalona for donating cells. The university wished to make profit out of the cells, but the cells were only meant to be used for Catalona’s research. The end result was that the case was taken to court and the cells were put away losing their value for research (Skloot 76-79). However, unlike Skloot, Callaway does not heavily emphasize the influence that capitalism has on an informed consent, but instead makes slight remarks towards it. He provides that the Lacks family looked to “the possibility of financial compensation,” but all they were able to achieve was that the unmodified gene could not be patent according to the US Supreme Court (133). Government furthermore then helps the Lacks family when they decided that they would rely on the governments influence by government restricting their mother’s/grandmother’s cell information.
Callaway provides credible sources like Francis Collins the director of the “US National Institutes of Health” (132). Collin became the representative for the Lacks family and fixed the situation the family was in by meeting with them to discuss the opportunities they can take in order to keep their mother’s/grandmother’s information safe and also be able to gain money from the dilemma. Collins being knowledgeable in the situation took proper steps in order to help the Lacks family and readers are able to comprehend Collin’s credibility. Similar to Callaway’s sources, Skloot also provides main sources to back up her cases. For example, Baruch Blumberg a winner of the Nobel Prize for discovering the hepatitis B antigen and creating the hepatitis B blood test was cited to strengthen the argument that money does affect the possibility of research (79). Blumberg’s credibility derives from the 80 years of cell research experience he has and this also influences readers to gain trust in the article. However, besides providing sources that are trusted, both Callaway and Skloot use their main sources to shift to the accusation that when an informed consent is given to a patient then cell research