PSY 305 Week 4 Ethical Principles 
Ethical Principles
Sara M. Covey
PSY 305
February 25, 2015
Dr. Sheila Rapa
Ethical Principles For this week’s assignment I am to discuss ethical principles, specifically the ethical principles that were violated during the research in regards to Henrietta Lacks. Henrietta Lacks was a wife and a mother of five. She was a black tobacco farmer and was a native of rural southern Virginia but a resident of Turner Station in Dundalk, MD. Henrietta had mentioned to family that she had felt a “knot” inside her while pregnant with her fifth child but her family just assumed that it was due to the pregnancy. After giving birth, Henrietta started bleeding abnormally and profusely. Her local doctor tested her for syphilis, which came back negative, and referred to John Hopkins. On January 29, 1951, Lacks went to John Hopkins Hospital. (Zielinski, 2010) Johns Hopkins was her only choice for a hospital because it was the only one nearby that treated black patients. A doctor by the name of Howard W. Jones examined Henrietta and the lump in her cervix. He removed a piece of her tumor without telling her and sent it to pathology. Soon after, Lacks learned she had a malignant epidermoid carcinoma of the cervix. She was treated with radium tube inserts, which were sewn in place. It was during her radiation treatments where they removed two more pieces of her cervix - one healthy and one not - without her permission. The cells from her cervix were given to Dr. George Otto Gey. Dr. Gey “discovered that Henrietta’s cells did something they’d never seen before: They could be kept alive and grow.” (Claiborne & Wright, 2010, "How One Woman's Cells Changed Medicine".) Before this, cells cultured from other cells would only survive for a few days. In fact, up to this point scientists spent more time just trying to keep cells alive than doing actual research on them. However, some cells from Lacks’ tumor sample behaved differently than they had seen before. Gey
Sara M. Covey
PSY 305
February 25, 2015
Dr. Sheila Rapa
Ethical Principles For this week’s assignment I am to discuss ethical principles, specifically the ethical principles that were violated during the research in regards to Henrietta Lacks. Henrietta Lacks was a wife and a mother of five. She was a black tobacco farmer and was a native of rural southern Virginia but a resident of Turner Station in Dundalk, MD. Henrietta had mentioned to family that she had felt a “knot” inside her while pregnant with her fifth child but her family just assumed that it was due to the pregnancy. After giving birth, Henrietta started bleeding abnormally and profusely. Her local doctor tested her for syphilis, which came back negative, and referred to John Hopkins. On January 29, 1951, Lacks went to John Hopkins Hospital. (Zielinski, 2010) Johns Hopkins was her only choice for a hospital because it was the only one nearby that treated black patients. A doctor by the name of Howard W. Jones examined Henrietta and the lump in her cervix. He removed a piece of her tumor without telling her and sent it to pathology. Soon after, Lacks learned she had a malignant epidermoid carcinoma of the cervix. She was treated with radium tube inserts, which were sewn in place. It was during her radiation treatments where they removed two more pieces of her cervix - one healthy and one not - without her permission. The cells from her cervix were given to Dr. George Otto Gey. Dr. Gey “discovered that Henrietta’s cells did something they’d never seen before: They could be kept alive and grow.” (Claiborne & Wright, 2010, "How One Woman's Cells Changed Medicine".) Before this, cells cultured from other cells would only survive for a few days. In fact, up to this point scientists spent more time just trying to keep cells alive than doing actual research on them. However, some cells from Lacks’ tumor sample behaved differently than they had seen before. Gey
References: Batts, Denise Watson (2010). "Cancer cells killed Henrietta Lacks - then made her immortal". The Virginian-Pilot. Claiborne, Ron; Wright IV, Sydney (2010). "How One Woman 's Cells Changed Medicine". ABC World News. Ritter, Malcolm (2013), "Feds, family reach deal on use of DNA information". Seattle Times. Skloot, Rebecca, (2000), "Henrietta 's Dance", Johns Hopkins University. Smith, Van (2002). "Wonder Woman: The Life, Death, and Life After Death of Henrietta Lacks, Unwitting Heroine of Modern Medical Science". Baltimore City Paper. Washington, Harriet, (1994), "Henrietta Lacks: An Unsung Hero", Emerge Magazine Wikipedia: Henrietta Lacks. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henrietta_Lacks Zielinski, S. (2010). Cracking the Code of the Human Genome: Henrietta Lacks ' "Immortal" Cells. Retrieved from http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/henrietta-lacks-immortal-cells-6421299/?no-ist