The Tuskegee Study and the Story of Henrietta Lacks
Supporting ethics in research and practice is crucial for nurses to ensure patients’ well-being and autonomy while also preventing legal complications (The Kennedy Institute of Ethics, 2014). Ethical violations can put patients’ health at risk, as in the Tuskegee Study. In this research, participants were given misleading information about the study and did not receive any treatment for syphilis (MNK HIST, n.d.). Additionally, instead of 6 months, the study continued for 40 years, and the participants were not given an option to exit it and receive proper treatment (MNK HIST, n.d.). Similarly, in the story of Henrietta Lacks, informed consent was not obtained, and the woman was unaware that her cells were being used in research (The Agenda with Steve Paikin, 2010). Henrietta Lacks was not compensated for the procedure or cell donation, despite the effect that HeLa had on research in cell biology (The Agenda with Steve Paikin, 2010).
Violated Ethical Principles
Hence, in both cases, the principles of autonomy and justice were violated because there was no informed consent and the benefits from participation were either nonexistent or very limited (Farmer & Lundy, 2017; Moulton & King, 2010). The principles of beneficence and nonmaleficence were also violated in the Tuskegee study because the participants did not receive any treatment, which worsened their condition. Lastly, the principles of cultural respect and competence were violated in both cases because the participants’ cultural values and differences were not respected and addressed adequately (Darnell & Hickson, 2015; Lo, 2013).
Lessons Learned and Safeguards in Place
While cases of unethical conduct in research are harmful, there is a lot that other scholars and practitioners have learned from them. For instance, the necessity of patients’ informed consent is now widely recognized, and studies involving human subjects cannot be performed without it (Farmer & Lundy, 2017). Additionally, there are designated ethical committees in place to ensure that the proposed research procedures are ethical and will not cause harm. The role of cultural competency and awareness has also developed over the past years, and now research involving cultural minorities is required to demonstrate these qualities. Finally, there are codes of ethics published by professional organizations. Adhering to these codes in research and practice helps to avoid ethical problems and resolve any issues or dilemmas that arise in professional settings.
References
The Agenda with Steve Paikin. (2010). Rebecca Skloot: The story of HeLa [Video file]. Web.
Darnell, L. K., & Hickson, S. V. (2015). Cultural competent patient-centered nursing care. Nursing Clinics, 50(1), 99-108.
Farmer, L., & Lundy, A. (2017). Informed consent: Ethical and legal considerations for advanced practice nurses. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 13(2), 124-130.
The Kennedy Institute of Ethics. (2014). Introduction to bioethics: Bioethics at the bedside [Video file]. Web.
Lo, B. (2013). Chapter 44: Ethical issues in cross-cultural care. In Resolving ethical dilemmas: A guide for clinicians (5th ed., pp. 323-331). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
MNK HIST. (n.d.). The deadly deception [Video file]. Web.
Moulton, B., & King, J. S. (2010). Aligning ethics with medical decision‐making: the quest for informed patient choice. The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 38(1), 85-97.