Compare and contrast the medical research likely performed on Elsie with Gey's research and Southam's research. Does some medical research seem "more wrong"? Why do you think you feel that way?
The medical research conducted by Gey, Southam, and Elsie’s Doctors was all nonconsensual. None of these medical practitioners bothered acquiring informed consent because they did not want to risk their research. All their research,in their eyes, was for the advancement of science. That being said, their human experiments were ethically wrong and toeing the legal line of what was acceptable, even in those days. However, their experiments do seem to vary in degrees of wrongness, Gey took samples from unsuspecting patients to advance his research, but his research never put a patient in danger or got in the way of their treatment. The research Gey performed used human tissue samples, but never directly harmed the patient. It was a gross misuse of power and a violation of privacy, but he was not experimenting on the actual patients, just their tissue samples. Southam, on the other hand, injected his patients with cancerous cells to see how their bodies would react. He started off only injecting patients that already had cancer, but eventually he graduated to healthy patients. Southam put his patients at risk, although he hypothesized the body would reject foreign cells, he had no way of knowing until he conducted his experiment with human test subjects. Had the experiments produced adverse effects, the healthy patients would have developed cancer. Southam, unlike Gey did experiment on actual patients, but did not cause his patients physical pain. The worst of the three were Elsie’s doctors they conducted a study titled “Pneumoencephalographic and skull X-ray studies in 100 epileptics” (Skloot 275). Pneumoencephalography was a new way of getting clearer images of a persons brain, the brain was surrounded by liquid, which made x-rays fuzzy, but this new technique involved the draining of this liquid for clearer pictures by drilling holes in the patients head and replacing the fluid with air or helium. This would cause horrible headaches and seizures, among other side effects. These side effects would last until spinal fluid refilled the skull, a process that took two to three months. Elsie’s doctors also took on another study involving the insertion of metal probes into patients brains. All three sets of researchers were in the wrong but inflicting physical pain on a human being unable to defend themselves, is the most horrendous crime. These people they were conducting research on were mentally disabled, it is deeply embedded in the human psyche that it is wrong to prey on the weak; on those who cannot protect themselves. Skloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Broadway Paperbacks, 2011.
I agree with Sophia. Not many doctors bothered to get informed consent from their patients before conducting any medical procedure or research. Asking a patient for consent before conducting research may scare the patient and cause him or her to be unwilling to do the procedures. Scientists were not willing to take the risk because they believed their research would help science, as Sophia stated. Some research seems "more wrong" because it causes more pain or long term effects on the patient. For instance, Southam injected “‘live cancer cells into chronically ill elderly patients" (Skloot, 2011, p. 186). Also, the doctors in the mental hospital Elsie attended conducted “pneumoencephalography study … [on] every epileptic child in the hospital, including Elsie” (Skloot, 2011, p. 276). This type of research is “more wrong” because the people used in this study were innocent, incapacitated people. Southam and Elsie’s doctors were taking advantage of the ill for their personal goals.
Skloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Broadway Paperbacks, 2011.
The medical research conducted by Gey, Southam, and Elsie’s Doctors was all nonconsensual. None of these medical practitioners bothered acquiring informed consent because they did not want to risk their research. All their research,in their eyes, was for the advancement of science. That being said, their human experiments were ethically wrong and toeing the legal line of what was acceptable, even in those days. However, their experiments do seem to vary in degrees of wrongness, Gey took samples from unsuspecting patients to advance his research, but his research never put a patient in danger or got in the way of their treatment. The research Gey performed used human tissue samples, but never directly harmed the patient. It was a gross misuse of power and a violation of privacy, but he was not experimenting on the actual patients, just their tissue samples. Southam, on the other hand, injected his patients with cancerous cells to see how their bodies would react. He started off only injecting patients that already had cancer, but eventually he graduated to healthy patients. Southam put his patients at risk, although he hypothesized the body would reject foreign cells, he had no way of knowing until he conducted his experiment with human test subjects. Had the experiments produced adverse effects, the healthy patients would have developed cancer. Southam, unlike Gey did experiment on actual patients, but did not cause his patients physical pain. The worst of the three were Elsie’s doctors they conducted a study titled “Pneumoencephalographic and skull X-ray studies in 100 epileptics” (Skloot 275). Pneumoencephalography was a new way of getting clearer images of a persons brain, the brain was surrounded by liquid, which made x-rays fuzzy, but this new technique involved the draining of this liquid for clearer pictures by drilling holes in the patients head and replacing the fluid with air or helium. This would cause horrible headaches and seizures, among other side effects. These side effects would last until spinal fluid refilled the skull, a process that took two to three months. Elsie’s doctors also took on another study involving the insertion of metal probes into patients brains. All three sets of researchers were in the wrong but inflicting physical pain on a human being unable to defend themselves, is the most horrendous crime. These people they were conducting research on were mentally disabled, it is deeply embedded in the human psyche that it is wrong to prey on the weak; on those who cannot protect themselves. Skloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Broadway Paperbacks, 2011.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with Sophia. Not many doctors bothered to get informed consent from their patients before conducting any medical procedure or research. Asking a patient for consent before conducting research may scare the patient and cause him or her to be unwilling to do the procedures. Scientists were not willing to take the risk because they believed their research would help science, as Sophia stated. Some research seems "more wrong" because it causes more pain or long term effects on the patient. For instance, Southam injected “‘live cancer cells into chronically ill elderly patients" (Skloot, 2011, p. 186). Also, the doctors in the mental hospital Elsie attended conducted “pneumoencephalography study … [on] every epileptic child in the hospital, including Elsie” (Skloot, 2011, p. 276). This type of research is “more wrong” because the people used in this study were innocent, incapacitated people. Southam and Elsie’s doctors were taking advantage of the ill for their personal goals.
ReplyDeleteSkloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Broadway Paperbacks, 2011.