Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Must read for medical professionals

Every medical professional should read the book, "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot. It explores the legal, ethical and moral issues behind tissue collection. Who owns tissue samples? Who can profit from the tissue samples? If we place restrictions on tissue samples, what effect would that have on the capitalistic profit model that drives medical research? Should the donor share in the profits from their own sample? I don't know the answers, but we should at least start to address these issues.