As I complete the IRB training I keep thinking of Henrietta Lacks. I have taught students about HeLa cells for years. Her story is a complex one of missing informed consent. The biggest fault of the HeLA cell abstraction is that she was never asked. Her cells have done great things for humanity. I make sure to emphasize that human contribution is required for some medical research. Then my students and I would discuss the implications of race and education on how research subjects are chosen. Medical research has predominantly been performed on Caucasian males (Dresser, 1992). I then followed up with a short discussion of the Tuskegee experiments experiments.
Wanted Single, White Male for Medical Research
Rebecca Dresser
The Hastings Center Report , Vol. 22, No. 1 (Jan. – Feb., 1992), pp. 24-29
Published by: The Hastings Center
Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/stable/3562720