In 2020, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) created a global pandemic. By 2021, vaccines were available; however, many people of color, particularly African Americans, refused to get vaccinated. The history of African Americans and health care in the United States contributed to the mistrust that carried into the 21st century.
Although Henrietta Lacks died in 1951 at the age of 31, the lawsuit surrounding the biotechnology company earning millions off her cells settled in 2023. As biotechnology advances, consider what safeguards are available for diverse people and those without health insurance to avoid what happened to Mrs. Lacks.
The idea to do no harm has been used in medical practice for years. For this assignment, create a biotechnology ethics policy. Consider a diverse workforce in your policy.
Address the following:
- How would you expand on the principle of doing no harm to ensure that people of diverse populations (cultural, racial, and economic) are not subjected to the same conditions as experienced by Henrietta Lacks?
- Develop 2 ways your policy will create safeguards for people in the face of biotechnological advance. Give examples of how the safeguards will work.
- Discuss how the failure of upholding ethics can contribute to a similar situation such as the development of the HeLa cell.
Use 6–10 scholarly resources to support the provisions of your policy. Dictionaries and encyclopedias are not scholarly sources. Look at federal and state legislation and court cases.
