The doctors failed to involve Henrietta Lack's family when they decided to use her cell stems in biological studies. Therefore, they did so without her consent, violating the moral ethics of the health care system (Zimmer, 2013). When making health care decisions, there are different approaches that one can use to avoid unethical issues. The moral decision situations help in making the right choices that are morally right. The following are some of the standard decision-making approaches that apply to ethical issues in health care.
The Utilitarian theory by the mill is designed to acknowledge moral behavior for humankind. This theory describes human actions to be committed when making ethical decisions to promote more happiness as opposed to unhappiness. Summer and Morrison (2019) argue that the Utilitarian theory suggests that in a scenario where someone finds a homeless person dropping cash on the road, it is morally correct to return the money. In health care, the theory helps the health professionals make decisions based on consequences to balance positive and negative effects. The theory is not based on the fundamentals of moral values and is society-centered.
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Deontological theories suggest that human actions are either good or bad since they follow a set of rules. In the deontological approach, the actions do not justify achieving a goal; that means it is patient-centered. The theory illustrates that a decision is beneficial to an individual rather than the whole society. As a healthcare professional, I would prefer the utilitarian theory since it is based on benefiting the large community, unlike the deontological approach that benefits only individuals.
Ethical Situations
Informed consent gives the health profession the moral right to respect a patient's health condition. Under informed consent, the patients have the right to understand the medical procedures being undertaken following an agreement between them and medical professions. The patients enter into a relationship with the physician to maintain their health conditions. For informed consent, the physician is obligated to provide all vital information regarding the patient's treatment and avoid interfering with the patient's decision.
Confidentiality is a moral obligation that prevents physicians from giving out any personal information regarding a patient. This ethical situation helps both the health profession and a patient to maintain the relationship of trust. Summers and Morison (2019) argue that confidentiality requires health professions to be cautious when handling patient's information to allow only authorized persons to assess the information. In Henrietta's Lacks case, the health professions used a Utilitarian approach of the moral decision since they choose to benefit a larger community by ruling out her family members. The health profession had also made her genomes public for downloading, which violates her privacy.
Resolving Ethical Dilemmas
I would have respected the autonomy of the patient by avoiding using her stem cells without her consent. It would have been essential to balance the benefits that would incur as a result of doing biological research with stem cells. I would use a Utilitarian approach to help develop an agreement that will benefit both family members and the physicians. The family members will then get a few earnings from research conducted regarding Henrietta Lack's stem cells. I would record and use only information that is necessary to maintain trust with the patient.
The health care profession violated Henrietta's rights of privacy by exposing her genomes to the world. They made the genomes public for easy downloading. Their actions were against the principle of confidentiality ethic. The physicians did not use informed contest when taking the stem cells out of Henrietta's body. They violated her right to have information regarding her health conditions. I would have informed Henrietta about the procedures to avoid future consequences from breaching her privacy.
References
Summers, J., & Morrison, E. (2019). Principles of healthcare ethics. Health Care Ethics. 2nd ed. Sudbury: Jones and Bartlett Publishers , 41-58.
Zimmer, C. (2013). A family consents to a medical gift, 62 years later. The New York Times , 7 .
