Permission and Recognition

"There are at least two issues that cases like Mrs. Lacks's raise," says Ruth Faden... "One is the question of consent, and the other is what, if anything, is morally or legally due to a person if something of commercial value is developed from their cells."

The scientists who harvested the cells of Mrs. Lacks should indeed have asked for explicit permission from the patient. Consent is necessary in any form of medical anything and the fact that the doctors and scientists did not get consent from the patient for the tests they were doing is a violation of legal rights. The Lacks family was taken advantage of which is viewed as not right.

However, I believe that even though the Lacks family was taken advantage of, the positives of it outweigh the negatives. The sacrifice of one to save many is always the right thing to do. From the HeLa cells, a polio vaccine was created. Moreover, from that many lives were saved. In cases like this where the families are blindsided, I believe it is a necessary evil. The amount of lives saved compared to the hurt that the family feels is astounding.

The Lacks family suffered because of the blindside but ultimately, it saved many lives.