- Do laws and regulations protect patients or do health professionals protect patients?
- How would the events that led to the discovery and experimentation with HeLa cells have been different if they occurred today?
Cite at least 2 peer-reviewed, scholarly, or similar references.
Expert Solution Preview
Introduction:
As a medical professor responsible for creating assignments for medical college students, ensuring that they understand the importance of laws and regulations that protect patients is crucial. Additionally, analyzing historical events in medical research, such as the discovery and experimentation with HeLa cells, helps students understand how ethical considerations play a fundamental role in the practice of medicine.
Answer 1: Do laws and regulations protect patients or do health professionals protect patients?
Both laws and regulations are in place to protect the welfare and safety of patients, and health professionals are responsible for upholding and adhering to these laws. Developing and enforcing laws and regulations help hold healthcare professionals accountable for providing quality care to patients. It also allows healthcare facilities to implement protocols and standards that promote patient safety and the development of better healthcare practices. However, health professionals play a critical role in protecting patients by following these laws, regulations, and standards to provide optimal care.
Reference:
1. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (US) Committee on Quality of Health Care in America. (2001). Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century. National Academies Press (US). Available from:
2. Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Quality of Health Care in America. (2001). “To Err Is Human”: Building a Safer Health System. National Academies Press (US). Available from:
Answer 2: How would the events that led to the discovery and experimentation with HeLa cells have been different if they occurred today?
If the events that led to the discovery and experimentation with HeLa cells occurred today, there would be more stringent ethical guidelines and standards in place to protect human subjects in research. The inability to obtain consent from Henrietta Lacks or her family is an issue that would have been caught and addressed before conducting any research. Additionally, the development and enforcement of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) process would have ensured that ethical principles were upheld, and the experiment would not proceed if researchers were not adhering to the rules and regulations.
Reference:
1. National Institutes of Health. (2021). Office for Human Research Protections. Available from:
2. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2021). Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) Information Sheets. Available from:
