Henrietta Lacks
There was a massive contribution to science provided by Henrietta Lacks and she would never be able to see the extent that her cells saved millions. The book spent a lot of focus on her being uneducated and in poverty with low income as well as how her family continued to be. In my opinion, the book would have been better if the focus would have been more on the science of how the cells were used and the outcome of their use. The book made significant mention of her poverty dating back to her childhood.
In my opinion, the book should have included more about Henrietta Lacks personally and not just her cells. It is obvious that Skloot made the best use of the information that she was able to obtain about Mrs. Lacks. However, her focus on the poverty of the family should not have been the focus because it was more the way the medical community took advantage of the family’s inability to defend Mrs. Lacks because of their lack of education and poverty. The medical community did not intend to publish the name of Mrs. Lacks as the person the cells originated from, in the book it states this because of family and patient privacy, but I feel like this is not true I sense the medical community does not want the family to know and have to produce and funds, explanations, or additional paperwork connect to the cells (Skloot, 2010).
Lengauer’s Quote
As the book indicated it is important for the world to know who Mrs. Lacks was in terms of her contribution to science. All the people that knew her indicated that she was a very giving and caring person which leads me to believe that she would have been happy to share her cells for the betterment of the world. However, she lived in an era where there were no privacy laws to protect her information. The doctors not wanting her name published indicated that they were not very truthful about Mrs. Lacks knowledge of her cells being used for science research (Skloot, 2010). Just knowing a little about Mrs. Lacks allows people to connect and appreciate how science was impacted in such a huge way. It has impacted everyone in some way and it might inspire others to become donors to be utilized in the name of science (Skloot, 2010).
Ethical Leadership
Ethical leadership in healthcare is important but ensuring that patients and their families have a full understanding of their care is an important piece of being an ethical leader. It is important to translate the information into terms that the patient can fully understand and repeat the process as many times as necessary until the patient has a complete understanding. It could be important to even have the patient repeat their understanding of the issue so that you know they fully understand. It is also important to place checks and balances in the care you provide so that you can ensure ethical practices as well as a complete audit of processes. Another example of a good ethical process is to ensure the above is all documented well in the patient's record.
References
Skloot, R. (2010). The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks. New York, NY: Broadway Books
There was a massive contribution to science provided by Henrietta Lacks and she would never be able to see the extent that her cells saved millions. The book spent a lot of focus on her being uneducated and in poverty with low income as well as how her family continued to be. In my opinion, the book would have been better if the focus would have been more on the science of how the cells were used and the outcome of their use. The book made significant mention of her poverty dating back to her childhood.
In my opinion, the book should have included more about Henrietta Lacks personally and not just her cells. It is obvious that Skloot made the best use of the information that she was able to obtain about Mrs. Lacks. However, her focus on the poverty of the family should not have been the focus because it was more the way the medical community took advantage of the family’s inability to defend Mrs. Lacks because of their lack of education and poverty. The medical community did not intend to publish the name of Mrs. Lacks as the person the cells originated from, in the book it states this because of family and patient privacy, but I feel like this is not true I sense the medical community does not want the family to know and have to produce and funds, explanations, or additional paperwork connect to the cells (Skloot, 2010).
Lengauer’s Quote
As the book indicated it is important for the world to know who Mrs. Lacks was in terms of her contribution to science. All the people that knew her indicated that she was a very giving and caring person which leads me to believe that she would have been happy to share her cells for the betterment of the world. However, she lived in an era where there were no privacy laws to protect her information. The doctors not wanting her name published indicated that they were not very truthful about Mrs. Lacks knowledge of her cells being used for science research (Skloot, 2010). Just knowing a little about Mrs. Lacks allows people to connect and appreciate how science was impacted in such a huge way. It has impacted everyone in some way and it might inspire others to become donors to be utilized in the name of science (Skloot, 2010).
Ethical Leadership
Ethical leadership in healthcare is important but ensuring that patients and their families have a full understanding of their care is an important piece of being an ethical leader. It is important to translate the information into terms that the patient can fully understand and repeat the process as many times as necessary until the patient has a complete understanding. It could be important to even have the patient repeat their understanding of the issue so that you know they fully understand. It is also important to place checks and balances in the care you provide so that you can ensure ethical practices as well as a complete audit of processes. Another example of a good ethical process is to ensure the above is all documented well in the patient's record.
References
Skloot, R. (2010). The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks. New York, NY: Broadway Books