The World's Best Book Summaries
Can you get a biological patent on someone else’s cells? What happened to John Moore’s cells when Dr. David Golde took them? How did the court consider the issue of patenting of biological material? John Moore’s cells were involved in an important case on the patenting of biological material. Read more about his case, which involved the issue of awarding a biological patent and breach of fiduciary duty.
Who was the daughter of Henrietta Lacks that died only a few years after her mother? Why was Elsie Lacks committed to the Hospital for Negro Insane? How was she treated at this facility with a record of experimentation and abuse? Elsie Lacks was the second child of Henrietta Lacks. She was diagnosed with “idiocy” and committed to the Hospital for Negro Insane. Elsie Lacks’ medical records show that she suffered abuse, experimentation, and mistreatment. Learn about the short and tragic life of Elsie Lacks, Crownsville and its atrocities, and how the records were found.
Did Edward Snowden break the law when he used intelligence technology for unofficial purposes? Did Edward Snowden break the law when he took files out of the NSA? Did Edward Snowden break the law when he leaked documents to journalists? Edward Snowden broke US laws and was charged with a political crime. However, because he went to a non-extraditing country and got asylum, he is not in jail. Read more about Edward Snowden’s actions and their legal implications.
What was the Enron collapse, and how did it happen? The Enron collapse of 2001 occurred when Enron, a company that had previously been wildly successful in the stock market, declared bankruptcy. The Enron collapse was due to a combination of unethical accounting practices, the failure of business watchdogs, and other factors. Keep reading to find out about the issues that contributed to the Enron collapse.
What happens to samples taken from your body? Are there human tissue rights that apply even once your tissue is out of your body? How are human tissue sales related to organ sales? “Organ sales” is a term that refers generally to the sale of any human organ, like a kidney. Selling organs is generally prohibited. Similarly, you usually can’t sell your own tissue, but tissue ownership ends when your tissue leaves your body. Learn about the intricacies of human tissue sales and how tissue rights and ownership change once your tissue has already been excised.
How has systemic racism in medicine affected research during the 20th Century? What are some examples of medical racism? Is health care discrimination an ongoing issue? Medical racism is the race-motivated mistreatment or exploitation of people. Throughout the 20th Century, Black people have suffered from systemic racism in medicine. See five examples of medical racism, which occurred throughout the 20th Century.
How did Edward Snowden start hacking? What skills did the hacker Snowden develop? What is hacker culture like? For Edward Snowden, hacking was a way to assert his independence. As a hacker, Snowden was very skilled. Learn more about Edward Snowden, hacking, and hacker culture.
What do clinical trial regulations say about paying research participants? How do researchers go about protecting human subjects? What bioethical issues arise from the remuneration of research subjects that donate tissues? Rules for protecting human subjects generally prohibit paying research participants to donate their tissues or other body parts. But there are some bioethical issues that arise from profiting from research without paying research participants. Learn more about the issues related to protecting human subjects.
If you buy HeLa cells, who profits? Has the Lacks family ever seen any of the financial benefits from HeLa cells for sale? How did companies like Microbiological Associates make money while the Lacks family struggled? HeLa cells for sale show the potentially high profit from the cells taken from Henrietta Lacks. HeLa cells’ price does not include any royalty for the Lacks family. Learn about the inequity of HeLa profits, including how HeLa cells for sale are for commercial profit and not the Lacks family.
Why do people have give informed consent before participating in a research study? Is it in part because of Chester Southam’s experiment? How many people did Dr. Chester Southam inject with live cancer cells? Chester Southam was a researcher at Sloan-Kettering who studied HeLa cells to see if you could get cancer from contact with the cells. Chester Southam’s experiment injected live cancer cells into people, many times without their permission. Learn about Dr. Chester Southam and his unethical research, including what happened to him when people found out.